As cliche as it sounds, Eric and Lauren fell in love at first sight, and by happenstance! It really felt like a meet-cute out of a rom-com. On the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving of 2018, Eric and Lauren met each other through a mutual friend at The Lucky Turtle in Finneytown. They then discovered they went to the same high school together, but never knew each other until after college had come and gone.

If you ask Lauren -

"Meeting Eric was like a breath of fresh air - I could feel my nervous system relax in real time the more I talked to him. His kind eyes, warm smile, and dry sense of humor won me over immediately. I felt like I could be fully myself around him, and he wouldn't judge me. I had never felt that way so instantaneously around any man I'd ever met. He left a lasting impression on me, and I knew I had to see him again after he left the bar! Luckily, we did meet again a week later, thanks to living in the same small town at the time. The rest is history! It really felt like an invisible string was tying us together."

The couples' favorite memories over the last six years include hammocking and napping in the trees of Glenwood Gardens, going on hikes, skiing, going to Wrightsville Beach every summer with friends and family, playing games and doing puzzles at home, collaborating on a short film for the WinterFilm festival, going to music festivals, plays, musicals, and movies, and taking on the big adventure of living in Chicago together.

Eric proposed to Lauren at the Alpine Valley Ski Resort after a long day of skiing, just the two of them in a room decorated with rose petals and candles, on February 11th, 2024.