Local Love: Matthew and Michael

We’re definitely the twenty-first century couple when it comes to how we met. We matched on Tinder in the summer of 2014; something that really shouldn’t have happened. Matthew was 19 attending college at the University of Maryland at the time, while Michael was living in Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia finishing up his senior year at Arcadia University–a distance over the app’s 100 mile radius. Neither one of us had our search radius outside of 20 miles though. Out of sheer will of technology, we matched anyway, and immediately began talking. We dated long distance for the next two years, which was challenging, but to our eventual realization, helped us grow stronger together.

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After college, the two moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania–the Christmas City–for Matthew to further his education, which fit perfectly with Michael’s love for the Holidays. It was here that Matthew first proposed to Michael in their apartment, by hand stitching “Will you Marry Me?” to a heart and tying it around the collar of their cat, Finn. He obviously said yes! Michael knew we had to be “extra” though and proposed to Matthew again in Brooklyn after a perfect day at Brooklyn Brewery. Their love of winter and the holidays led to their self proclaimed theme of the wedding–“Icy European Glam,” which we eventually developed into “Luxe Lodge”. The couple now lives in Lancaster City in a newly flipped townhouse with their cat Finn, and two dogs, Lincoln and Ella.

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