In the Fall of 2023, Thomas and Lauren were each in the thick of trying to meet someone special (or at the very least, someone normal) on the dating apps, including Bumble. They had both been using the apps for about eight months and were feeling dejected. However, on September 29, 2023 at 7:01 pm, everything changed when Thomas matched with Lauren on Bumble and sent her the best pickup line that she had ever received:

A few days later, on October 5th, they did get drinks. During their first date, which took place at Amelie's Cafe in Myers Park, Lauren ordered a glass of wine and two macaroons, and Thomas had a blueberry hibiscus tea and an eclair. For the next three hours, Thomas and Lauren talked about books, soccer, their families, cooking, and movies. They wondered how they had never met before, despite living within the same fifteen minute radius on and off for the past nine years. Thomas even speculated that he may have delivered a gluten-free pizza to the Burns household during his days as a delivery driver for Fuel Pizza in the Park Road Shopping Center.

Thomas liked Lauren's sense of humor and her bright smile, and he admired her intelligence and rosy outlook. Lauren liked that Thomas asked her questions, laughed at her jokes, and had nuanced opinions on everything from Pirates of the Caribbean to classic literature. They bonded over a mutual love of Park Road Books and cats and the comfort they both found in the liturgy of a traditional church service. At the end of their first date, when they discovered the uncanny similarity in their last names, it felt like everything might be falling into place. After the date ended, Thomas thought to himself that if he wasn’t careful, he just might wind up marrying that lawyer he met on Bumble. And just four days later on October 9th, after her second date with Thomas, Lauren sent the following text to her best friend (and future maid of honor), Kate:

"I'm just going to say it... I might end up being Lauren Burns Byrne."

Later that year, Thomas and Lauren deleted their dating apps for good and officially became a couple before Christmas 2023. Months later, a hurricane cancelled the Byrne family beach trip in August of 2024, so Thomas and Lauren instead took a trip to the mountains of North Carolina. It was there, on the side of a highway after a very failed adventure to find a waterfall, that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together and get married in the near future. On December 29, 2024, after months of waiting for an engagement ring from a local jeweler to arrive and having the delivery date be pushed back yet again, Thomas picked out a simple ring from Amazon, which would arrive in two days. On New Year's Day 2025, while taking the same chilly walk through the Queen's University campus that they had taken together exactly one year prior, Thomas proposed to Lauren with the Amazon ring, pictured below:

The real ring arrived a few days later, and their plans for a short and sweet six-month engagement were officially in motion. Thomas and Lauren's story is filled with much love and joy, and they are so excited to share their wedding day with you very soon!