COUPLE 1

ASHLEY & ERIC

Our story is legitimately a romantic comedy plot line. Eric and I met February 4, 2018 at a Superbowl Party (Fly Eagles Fly!!) that my best friend, Leigh Buckley, was throwing for her boyfriend, Jason Katz. Like myself, Eric showed up early to the party to help his friend/ex roommate/jujitsu brother set up for the party. We weren’t introduced by our friends but as soon as the party started, I strategically planted myself next to Eric on a love seat. Leigh’s mom, Susan Buckley, took some candid photos of us laughing and talking during the game. Not so discretely and with Eric sitting right next to me, Susan showed me these pictures and said ‘See? This is what happiness can look like.” To think that I could be dating my best friend’s boyfriend’s friend and previous roommate. Too good to be true, right?

Before leaving early from the Superbowl party, Eric asked for my number in front of everybody at the whole party. Good move, Eric. Very smooth. And literally, the rest is history. After eight weeks of dating, we moved in together. And after 9 months and four days of being together, he asked me to marry him. And so our love story continues…

COUPLE 2

BRIAN & TREVOR

Brian and Trevor are definitely not your conventional couple. Brian is a 37-year-old country boy from the rural town of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia and Trevor is a 23-year old Mormon from Provo, Utah. Brian is a Director of Special Events for a Global Event Marketing company traveling the world producing large scale events for corporate clients. Trevor is in the final stages of completing his marketing degree whilst working in retail in Los Angeles.

Brian & Trevor met by accident in Las Vegas in early 2018. Brian was there for work and Trevor was in town for a holiday vacation. They met at their hotel and started with conversations surrounding Brian’s career in Event Marketing and Trevor’s upcoming graduation with a marketing degree. After heading back to their respective cities (Los Angeles & Provo), they continued to talk. They soon found out that their hometowns were official ‘Sister Cities’; Wagga Wagga in Australia and Leavenworth in Kansas USA (where Trevor spent most of his childhood).

A few weeks after meeting, Brian flew to Salt Lake City to visit Trevor, multiple trips there later, weekends away in Park City, New York, and Los Angeles, they were sure they were soul mates for life. Trevor moved to Los Angeles in mid-2018 to live with Brian and his puppy Willis.

COUPLE 3

KATIE & MICAH

One month after meeting each other, Katie and I moved to Australia in search of a life-changing adventure, and I could not have done it with anyone else.

It was Valentine’s Day 2014 when I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this girl. We had been stuck inside our 1996 Mitsubishi Express van for three days straight due to a severe tropical storm. We had been scammed by an employer so we only had $12 to our name and could not afford gas to move our “home”. But it was our first Valentine’s Day together, so it needed to be special. During the one-hour period where it stopped raining, we ran to the store and bought two dented cans of chili, a loaf of day-old bread, a crushed cupcake, a bottle of wine and paper—so we could make cards for each other—all for under $6. We rushed back to the van and spent 15 minutes in opposite corners of our van (4 feet apart) to write Valentine’s cards for each other. We lit our citronella candle, had our romantic candlelit dinner on top of our twin mattress, and spent the rest of the night playing Scrabble.

Since then we have had more adventures than we can count, and I am beyond excited to spend the rest of my life with the girl that lived with me in a van down by the river.

COUPLE 4

STEPHANIE & CHRIS

It all started three St Patty’s Days ago when I grabbed his face and told him ‘you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen’. It could’ve been impulse or one too many green beers or it could’ve been luck…

‘I was out with a few friends celebrating the snowy St.Patrick’s day in downtown Denver. The late night had brought us to the rooftop of Lodo’s bar. The friends I had ventured out with were running and sliding in the snow with what had become a decent group of drunken debauchery. I came back from the bar with a fresh beer when a woman I had never seen before slid over and approached me. She grabbed both of my frosty cheeks, looked me dead in the eyes and said “You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.” She then asked for a drink of my beer which I said yes and watched her slug 2/3 of a draft PBR. I had never met anyone so honest and unabashed. We exchanged numbers to which I immediately broke the 72 hour rule and texted her the next morning. The first message I got back was “I’m still mad you’re so young”. I replied back, “you’ll get over it” and I couldn’t be more thankful that she did! Mother nature was on my side the first day we hung out, gracing Denver with over a foot of snow and terrible road conditions. I got stuck at her house and she’d be stuck with me forever.’

COUPLE 5

ADRIANNE & MATT

We are Matt (34) and Adrianne (31) of Denver, Colorado. Our story began back in 2001 when we both were in high school. I was a freshman and he was a handsome upperclassman who I had the pleasure of spending my math class with. I used to tease him…a lot! Against my mother’s will, we dated for a while. She eventually came around to us dating but the time came for him to graduate and he moved on. I didn’t!!! A couple years went by and I graduated in 2005. Matt and I ended up rekindling our love for each other that year, and to our surprise we found out we were expecting a bundle of joy the following year in August. After finding out, my mom was not pleased to say the least thinking that this is not going to work out and at 19 years old I was just a baby myself. Matt promised her that day the he would stick around and we welcomed our beautiful daughter, Mia, in 2006. Since then, we also welcomed our handsome son, Matthew, in 2010. Our priority has always been working and providing a good life for our children, so having a wedding always seemed out of the question. After 11 years together, and to my surprise, in August 2017, Matt FINALLY popped the question. I never thought the day would come and it was the absolute last thing I expected at that moment. We may have not done things in the order most couples do, and quite honestly, I’ll be the first to admit that we did everything backwards, but I would not want it any other way.

COUPLE 6

CANDACE & BRIAN

On a random Thursday in June, my roommate Josh had invited me to come to a Nuggets NBA Draft party. I had originally planned to work that night, but decided this sounded more fun. When I arrived, I spotted Josh and he began walking me over to a table of friends he thought I would enjoy meeting. En route to this table, we passed Brian – who was actually managing this event, and was on his way to his next task at hand. We were quickly introduced and moved along.

As the night progressed, Brian was finished working and joined the table that I was seated at. We were chatting the night away and learning of all the things we had in common. Brian discovered that I was also new to town and suggested that he show me around sometime – going in for the phone number. Typically, I would have diverted, but decided something was different about this guy. We laughed and talked until it was time for me to head out. On the way out, Josh let me know that Brian’s car was at the Pepsi Center and that perhaps he may need a ride back. I immediately turned around and went back in to offer this man a ride – anything to spend just a few more moments with him. This quick drop off turned into an hour long conversation and then what seemed like the longest 5 days ever, while I waited until our very first date….

COUPLE 7

AMY & MELISSA

Hi everyone! We are Amy and Mel from Hamilton On, Canada. Our story began in January 2016, when we met online (I know, romantic) we got chatting and really hit it off. A couple days later we met to watch an episode of our favourite Bachelor Ben (what are the odds). Mel’s TV wasn’t reconnected yet due home renovations, so we reluctantly decided to have our first date at my place. It was a little forward and some would say brave, but she showed up to my house that night and thankfully we both looked like our pictures and neither one of us ended up on an episode of dateline. We realized that we were both from small towns in northern Ontario and we found ourselves to have a lot in common and the conversation was effortless.

After a few months of dating we decided to take the next step and moved in together. Since then, we have had the greatest adventures. We have been on countless road trips across the US, joined sports teams, concerts, camping, game nights and the list goes on. A year and a half later I (Amy) arranged a surprise proposal party at a restaurant in Niagara Falls with our friends and family. With a little help from Mel’s twin sister, I was able to pull off this unforgettable night. Since being engaged, we had not set a wedding date and struggled with what to do as we did not want a conventional wedding.

COUPLE 8

JENNY & NOE

We’ve been together for a little over 7 years and trust me when I say it was not always peachy. After three years, we called it quits and we both experienced our first heartbreak. During this ugly phase, we took the time to fall and break—self-doubt, sadness, and emptiness constantly showed up at our doorstep. Once we hit our own rock bottom, we both started to become curious within ourselves. Curious as to why we ended up this way… curious as to why it was so hard for us to admit how LUDICROUS we were acting and being in our relationship. We spent the next 6 months after our split to work on ourselves and started asking the important questions. During our breakup, we stayed at a distance but also kept in touch here and there. We challenged each other to give the needed space and time to take a look in the mirror. Fortunately for us, we checked our old egos at the door and began to experience a new us. We’ve learned how to take responsibility in who we were and how we were being in our past relationship, paving a new path for us to explore. Our love is like a Lotus Flower, we both have deep roots in muddy waters, thrive when there is darkness, and in the end, we always find our way to the light. The only way I can summarize this up is how freaking much we have grown up together and how gratifying it was to do it with each other. “When you know, you know.” Everything else in between is just a playground full of wild obstacles and recess never ends for us.

COUPLE 9

SHALISA & JEFF

About 3 years ago, Shalisa and her business partner, Mish, asked me to come teach a workshop to their employees at Pure Barre in Boulder. We hadn’t seen each other in a while and it seemed very different from the last time we had been around each other. The energy was different. About a month later I saw her at a Christmas party and the next day I awkwardly asked her to dinner. Somehow, she said yes. The date quickly turned into something really fun and special and it was one of those amazing moments where everything changed in an instant. We went from individuals, not at all looking to get involved in anything serious, to a couple where everything seemed to line up. What’s the saying? “It’s difficult until it is easy.” I think for both of us, there was no anxiety, it just seemed so natural to be together and no real thought was there as far as “what are we, or what are we doing?” It just seemed to flow really well. We were simply together and it seemed exactly as it was supposed to be.

We spend a lot of time with each other. We work together really well, we protect each other, we consider each other and we work at making our relationship our main priority. I think in every way the two of us have found the partner we always wanted and didn’t imagine we would find. The partner who is supportive of what we want to accomplish, the partner who is accepting and open to who we each are and the partner that is equally excited about our lives together.

A year and a half into our relationship, I asked Shalisa to marry me at the top of Aspen mountain and she said “yes!” A few months later we had this crazy idea to put together a festival dedicated to love and commitment, and went on a search to find other like minded couples to join us. I guess you can say…the best is yet to come!