If you ask Amanda...
During our first year of law school, Hunter and I were placed in the same section - same group of 60 or so students who shared the same classes - but since this was in the middle of the pandemic, we were assigned different days to attend class in person (Hunter went on Mondays, I went on Fridays). I started going to school on Mondays and I would watch our class lectures on my laptop, sitting in a study room right outside our classroom. And every Monday I would see a cute guy walk towards the classroom, and I would think to myself, “who IS that?”.


It wasn’t until the summer after our first year was over that Hunter and I officially met at a pool party. A week later, I couldn’t wait to get back to the pool, since I knew he would be there. After that, we hung out in group settings a few times, and I knew he liked me when, one summer night, he offered to bring me ice cream to my apartment out of the blue, just because! From there, we went on our first date and have been inseparable ever since!


I knew Hunter was special very early on, when, before we were even officially dating, he told me he wanted to meet my parents, who were coming to town to help me move. When my mom left, she said, “He’s a very sweet boy, I have a feeling you’ll be spending a lot of time together!”


Having Hunter by my side was what got me through the rest of law school, to passing the bar and starting our first jobs as attorneys. On a particularly stressful day, the one thing that makes everything better is when I get to come home and see him.


I don’t have a specific moment of when I knew I wanted to marry Hunter, I just somehow always knew he was the one for me. It was the way he spoke to me, how thoughtful and considerate he was of me, and how he always made me laugh and we could be silly together. All of these things still hold true today, from when we first met. There’s no one else I would rather share my life with than him!


If you ask Hunter...
In June 2021, following the first year of law school, I met Amanda for the first time at a small pool party hosted by some mutual school friends. In retrospect, meeting Amanda at a pool really added up with her being a lifetime Floridian and all. The following weekend I found myself back at the same pool, obviously to see Amanda! That week also included a hike & picnic at St. Mary’s Glacier (Amanda still ecstatically points to the glacier exit sign every time we pass it), a night out on the town in Denver, IHOP for dinner, and me delivering some Andy’s ice cream over to her house just to have a reason to see her. It’s pretty clear that I had a big crush on Amanda and enjoyed spending time with her whenever I got the chance. On July 11, 2021, and after cooking Amanda a nice steak dinner, I officially asked her to be my girlfriend while we were relaxing on the back patio of my old apartment.


Just a few weeks into dating was the first time I had thought, “I think she is going to be the one.” Here is that story: One night Amanda was just wrapping up making a delicious Chicken Piccata, and I had just gotten over to her place, and within minutes was lying on her floor in pain having back-spasm like feelings in my lower back. We began to consult her medical friends over FaceTime, and I was practically told to tough it out and reevaluate tomorrow (by one of the Bridesmaids). This was advice we ultimately did not take after I was unable to even stand up. Amanda decided to leave everything where it was (Chicken Piccata ruined ☹) and took me to the emergency room right away, turns out I had appendicitis. The bad news was that it was 10PM at night at this point and I couldn’t have surgery until the morning whenever the surgeons were working. Thus, Amanda braved it out with me at the hospital overnight and kept me in good spirits before and after the surgery, and I was extremely thankful to have her by my side despite probably complaining quite a bit. I walked away from that painful situation knowing I had found an amazing person that I loved, and received that same love and comfort back from. Like I said, I think she is going to be the one.


Over the next two years of law school we spent almost every day together, which wasn’t hard to do since we both specialized in the same area of law and had approximately 90% of our classes together. Going through the same law school experience and stress that comes with passing the bar together, and I think Amanda would say the same thing, was extremely comforting and we picked each other up when spirits were down. We also experienced three months apart in the summer of 2022 whenever I worked abroad in London, which was difficult to be apart from each other for so long, but we got an awesome vacation out of it together in London and Amsterdam in my final week abroad.


At the end of our last year in school, I planned a trip (an engagement trip) for us on our spring break to Hawaii. While Amanda didn’t know it was an engagement trip, I’m sure she was wondering “Oooo, Hawaii, is he going to propose?”. After hiding the engagement ring in my bag over the course of the plane trip and first day or so in the hotel room, the day finally came. With the ploy being a fancy dinner, we got dressed up and I took her to an ocean park at sunset with an amazing backdrop and a photographer ready to capture the moment (I know, such a romantic if I do say so myself). On March 18, 2023, Amanda and I were officially engaged, and we were able to spend the next four days enjoying the amazing island!


Since graduating law school from the University of Denver, we both passed the Colorado Bar exam, were sworn in as attorneys, and have started our careers at firms in downtown Denver. While we stay busy these days, in our free time together we enjoy to ski, go on hikes & walks, compete in a few Nintendo Switch games like Mario Kart or Mario Party, and I try to get her out to the driving range from time to time to work on her golf swing. I am really looking forward to our Wedding Day on October 19, 2024, and can’t wait to call Amanda my wife!