We met on Hinge in 2023 and hit it off immediately. A few days later on July 1st, we had our first date—an outdoor pop-up jazz bar under the glass roof of the Denver Performing Arts Complex. After a few drinks and a lot of laughs, we walked a few blocks to play miniature golf at Skyline Park. When we got hungry, Luke invited Mandie up to his downtown condo where he made her stir fry dinner! We ate on the balcony as the sun set, as early Independence Day fireworks began to spark across the city. When it got cold, we moved inside and watched a nature documentary with dark chocolate and red wine to end the evening.

On July 4th proper, we met downtown and walked to Civic Center Park for the big bash including food trucks, live music, and a fireworks grand finale. Luke got Mandie a prickly pear margarita and she was hooked! It rained and we had to hide under Luke’s Star Wars blanket until the drizzle slowed down and we made our way back to the bus.

Since then we’ve been in love, accompanying each other for hiking trails, ski runs, board game nights, and reading books. Mandie loves doing the laundry, while Luke loves cooking her dinner.

Coming up on Christmas 2024, we got tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet and decided to get pictures near where we had our first date. Luke asked a bystander to take the photo, then surprised Mandie by getting on one knee and pulling out the most beautiful sunburst ring she had ever seen. She said yes! And we had to try to contain our excitement throughout the rest of the evening, sitting through the whole ballet. People around us picked up on our joy and were excited for us—some bought our drinks and took our pictures and wished us well! We were hungry on the way home and got chicken nuggets from Wendy's at midnight.

We are best friends and perfect travel companions, with a long list of countries to visit together. We’ve started checking them off with Canada (Aug ’24) and Scotland (May ’25), and are planning our honeymoon to Costa Rica (Jan ’26)! Luke can’t get over how encouraging and supportive and kind and thoughtful Mandie is… and how hot her curly red hair is! There are so many things to love about Luke, but Mandie’s favorite is that behind the confident, masculine appearance is a really soft, sweet man who has embraced cat fatherhood, who loves me wholly and completely, and makes me laugh harder than I ever have before.

There isn't a day that goes by where we're not laughing together and enjoying all that our life has brought us.