It was the Friday of Halloween weekend when I was having a post-work beer with my friend, Brent, and his new lady, Jordan. After expressing my recent history of dating woes, Jordan hesitantly gave me Simone’s phone number, who had been having a similarly tough time with the dating scene in Nashville. Once I heard about how wonderful Simone was, I decided to reach out. As a notoriously poor texter, I decided to give her a call and asked her to meet me at the Jackalope Halloween Party that weekend. Thankfully, despite being startled by this bold phone call, Simone decided to take a chance and go to the party. The instant chemistry was an unexpected, yet delightful surprise and we set up our first date for the following night. This was only the first chapter of our story! - Nathan

Nathan had attempted to sneakily coordinate family photos at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, a place where we had many fun memories together. It was easy to see nerves were at an all-time high that morning, as Nathan had two beers before 11:00am while I got ready using a makeup tutorial entitled “So, You’re Getting Engaged?!”. We arrived at Cheekwood for the photos and, of course, his family happened to be running late. Nathan casually led me to one of our favorite spots in the gardens where a couple on their first date were already perched and awkwardly conversating. When I saw Nathan subtly shoo the couple away from the corner of my eye, I knew the moment had arrived. After proposing with a beautiful ring and having our own private photoshoot around the gardens, Nathan took me to his parents’ house where our family and friends from near and far were waiting to celebrate. It was truly the best day of our lives (so far)! - Simone