Rowland and Stephanie first met at a work recruiting event at Howard University in September 2019. Stephanie noticed Rowland right away! From the moment he walked through the doors of her graduate school alma mater, she thought to herself, who is that tall dark and handsome man!? Rowland was oblivious.

Rowland and Stephanie shared their contact information booth since they both worked for the same company. One would think that he would see a pretty lady and stand near her, but no, he decided to station himself the opposite end of the booth. Stephanie decided to casually make her way closer to his side of the booth, but never introduced herself. Instead she talked to students and smiled and shared her experiences and laughter with others. She knew what she was doing, and Rowland finally introduced himself! Success!

While the rest of their co-workers were out of the D.C office, Rowland and Stephanie found out that they were both out of the New York Office. They exchanged information and would stay in contact over the coming months, occasionally sharing funny work stories, sarcastic comments, and insightful information about their work experiences. Three months after they met, Rowland decided it was time to ask Stephanie out for "Catch Up Drinks"! Both not really sure whether this was going to be a meet up with a coworker or potential romantic night out, they both cautiously committed to the evening out at Atlas Public House in Jersey City. Stephanie had no idea what to wear! Business casual, or flirty cute? She decided to go the business causal route with a blazer, but a flirty cute top that would only come out if the date went well. As the date progressed, the casual after work drinks turned into a cute dinner date. Needless to say, the blazer was sitting on the back of the chair. Over the next couple of months, they would continue to grow their relationship, surviving the pandemic twist through weekly virtual movie nights (every Friday night at 8PM)! With Covid rampant in New York City during summer 2020, Rowland decided to relocate back to Austin (his hometown) in July 2020. Luckily for him, Stephanie would follow suit, moving to Austin and getting her own apartment in The Domain in December 2020!

Their love continued to blossom in Austin, through various boat outings, movie nights at the iPic theater and taco crawls all around Austin. While growing closer together, Rowland built and closed on a house in March 2022, and invited Stephanie to make it a home in September 2022.

As they got acclimated to living with each other, they thought it would be a great idea to have Stephanie's family spend Thanksgiving in Austin. Rowland quickly realized this would be the ideal time to propose to Stephanie. With friends and family gathered around the kitchen island of their new home, Rowland got down on one knee proposed to Stephanie for all to witness!!

We are both excited to celebrate our love and excitement with you!