THE story begins when two best friends fell in love.

Our love story started less like a whirlwind romance, and more like a carefully-cultivated friendship. In what can only be described as peak-level Kathryn creepiness, her crush on Alex ignited in 2007, long before we officially met. She spotted him skateboarding from a respectable distance, and thought, “Oooo, he’s cute.”

Fast forward to the next year, and fate (or just mutual friends) officially introduced us. And while we were close friends in high school, our friendship really blossomed in college, evolving from ‘just friends’ to ‘secretly crushing’ in the summer of 2013.

Just as Kathryn was about to jet off to her fancy NYC internship at Seventeen Magazine, Alex, in his signature understated style, confessed his crush with a casual, “I kinda really like you.” Kathryn, naturally, responded with awkwardness… but delight!

Kathryn would jet off to NYC for her internship, where they wrote actual snail-mail letters to each other (see proof below). Alex even braved the wilds of New York to visit Kathryn, where we shared our first kiss on a 4th of July cruise on the Hudson—fireworks and all.

Eventually, Kathryn returned from her internship, back to the halls of UCF, but the growing romance was… well, shelved. We went back to being best friends. The kind where Alex would bring Kathryn flowers when she was sad, or help her move apartments three times, or paint her walls, etc. You know, the usual, completely platonic gestures...

In a final, classic, “we’re just friends!” move, Alex would drive Kathryn up to New York for her permanent move after graduating. Shortly after Alex went back to Florida and Kathryn was left in her dark, windowless apartment, Kathryn was like, “wait, I kinda really like him” (good callback, eh?). After eventually confessing her feelings to Alex, he asked her to be his girlfriend over FaceTime, and the love story would actually begin—a full three years after that fateful first kiss.

We’d do a year long distance before Kathryn decided she had ENOUGH of all that, and moved back to FL. Then, after three years, the distant calls of NYC rang, and Kathryn landed her DREAM GIRL job there. So, back to New York we went.

COVID-19 hits shortly after, which sucks, but we’re loving the city. To fight the COVID stir-craziness, we spend nearly every winter weekend skiing on the icy mountains of New Jersey. No big deal. Our new-found love for snowboarding & skiing begins!

After three years in NYC, we decide to spice things up yet again. A vacation to Bend quickly turned into a move to Bend, where we’ve spent the last three years. Alex would officially pop the question in 2023, and the cute skateboarder Kathryn saw in 2007 would officially become her fiancé.

Scroll on for some visual storytelling and pics from throughout the years…

2013

After being close friends in college, a flirty exchange at a luau-themed house party prompts the confession of a crush, just before Kathryn leaves for her internship in NYC. Love letters ensue, and Alex visits Kathryn in NYC, where we share our first kiss.

2016

Three years later, Kathryn's "best friend" Alex drives her to NYC for a permanent move, stopping in Washington D.C. on the way. Once he leaves, Kathryn misses him, and they decide to start dating officially. There will be many back-and-forth flights to visit each other.