Clear Cut Couples: Chris and Michelle

Chris and Michelle met on the dating app, Hinge. Turns out, they actually had some friends in common, including Michelle's best friend from college, who he grew up with! For their first date, they went to an Italian restaurant in the East Village in NYC and it was a hot, late July evening. He arrived first and picked for them to sit outside on the nice patio area, even though it was hot out. Michelle showed up a few minutes later and soon, he was dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief and she had put her hair up in a ponytail because of the heat. They had a great dinner and then continued the date at a local bar, where they enjoyed a few more drinks and more conversation in the air conditioning!

Since then, they have been together for over two years! Because they met on Hinge, they had been talking for about a month before they actually met for that first date. He had gone on vacation with his family and she had gone on vacation with her’s during the summer, so they kept chatting while attempting to find a time to get together in person.

They initially started traveling when Chris accompanied Michelle on some work trips. She worked for Pepsi at the time and was working with their NFL campaign, so they would travel to various games around the country. But since then, they’ve made many trips back to Cleveland, where Michelle grew up, Aruba for a week last summer, California last September for Michelle's sister's wedding, which included a day in wine country (which they can't wait to go back to), and to many weddings together over the last two years. A big moment of their relationship was when they moved in together in April 2019, but preceding that was a month of Chris moving in with Michelle and her roommate, sharing their tiny two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan because his previous lease had ended a month before her’s did. They moved to Hoboken the next month into their own place. They bought a car a few months later and adopted Bailey, their Irish Doodle!

Chris worked from home full time since June, 2019 and when the pandemic hit, Michelle was working from home too. He knew that he had always wanted to propose in 2020, but the planning portion of it was made a lot harder when she began working from home full time. He always thought he’d be able to go visit jewelry stores during the day while Michelle was at work, so he had to get creative. They went to his parents house for a few months and then Michelle's parents house for a few months during this year. While they were in Ohio, he reached out to The Clear Cut since he had remembered Michelle showing him some of their designs on Instagram. Through the responsive and helpful process with The Clear Cut, they were able to design the perfect ring that Michelle would love. Chris said, “We made our way back to our apartment in NJ, but Michelle had always said she wanted her parents to be there for the proposal. Her mom had let me know that she was planning on coming to NJ in the middle of August to visit Michelle's grandmother. We already had plans to be at my parents house that weekend, so I arranged it so the proposal would take place that weekend!”

It was a total surprise and the logistics of making sure everything was planned on time was a little tricky, but they were able to keep it from Michelle. He had planned that they would wear nicer outfits to take photos for his mom's birthday. After the photos, Chris and Michelle were tasked with picking up his mom's birthday cake (which he had set up). While they were gone, Michelle's parents arrived at the house and they all hid in the house (socially distancing with masks). They came back and he walked her into the backyard and he asked her to come over by the pool. Her dad was shooting pictures from the bathroom window and his sister was back in the bushes shooting a video. He proposed to Michelle and, as he opened the ring box, she exclaimed "It's so pretty!" and then put the ring on her finger and kissed him. He then had to ask "So, is that a yes?" and she yelled "Oh my God! Of course!"

They are looking at a Spring 2022 wedding in either New Jersey or Ohio. Congrats you two! We are SO happy for you!