The Story According to Matt
I was in Baltimore when I first met Lacey. I had been there for an internship learning how churches in inner city Baltimore worshiped God through serving the community. I joined the dating website "plenty of fish" just weeks before returning to Durham. While I had enjoyed my time in Baltimore, I had wanted to find the woman of my dreams. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find her in Baltimore because of my short time there. So I signed up for "POF". The irony here is that I had always said I wouldn't join a dating website.
I joined. Within a few weeks, I received a message from a girl at August 3, 2013 at 11:54 pm to be exact. I was asleep. The next day I awoke to the message "hey" from a girl who looked to be drowning. Her message was plain, simple, and uninteresting, but I thought hey what do I have to lose. My other thought was, "this girl is only 22, does she even know how old I am?" (I was 31). So started our time of getting to know each other.
On September 20, 2013, I asked Lacey to be my girlfriend. I know that labels are out of style these days but I needed us to have a set direction. I asked her to be my girlfriend with the intent of exploring the possibility of marriage. 15 months later I asked her to be my wife. That isn't to say that we had a smooth relationship. We barely survived being a part for 10 weeks in the summer. But every hardship we have faced together in our relationship has only brought us closer together.
I love Lacey Elizabeth Platt. I look forward to marrying her and having each and everyone of you there to witness that blessed event.
The Story According to Lacey
My first thought of Matt was that he was an attractive man but I really didn't put more thought into it than that. I was not really sure what I was looking for but my sister had strongly encouraged that I put myself out there. I am really thankful now that she did since Matt says he never would have messaged me.
As I got to know Matt the first few weeks that we hung out I did not think that he was anywhere near as interested in me as I was in him. He was so thoughtful and kind that sometimes it was overwhelming. After dating for two months I went to visit my mom for a weekend trip and remember telling her then that I was confident that he was the man I wanted to marry. It did not take me long to realize that the way he loved the Lord and the people in this world was exactly what I had always dreamed of in a husband.
Six months later he left for Guatemala and El Salvador for the summer. It was long and hard. We could not communicate on a regular basis, which made us feel further apart than the distance itself. A week after he returned I left for South Africa where the communication was even less. After I returned we still felt very far away from each other, which lead us to break up for a four-day period. This was a long and trying four days but it made us really understand what life would be like without each other and neither of us wanted that. I am so thankful for this time in our lives because from that point on we have been closer than ever and have learned to be very intentional about our communication with each other.
For our 15 month anniversary Matt took me out to the movies and I remember sitting there not watching the movie but watching him thinking how blessed I am to have a man that takes me out on the sweetest dates. Then we went to the arcade to play ski ball because I love friendly competition where he won which was fun for both of us. Then he took me out to my favorite restaurant to eat shrimp and grits that were fabulous. I was overwhelmed with thankfulness that I am could love me so well. If that was not enough when we went back to his apartment there were rose pedals and snowflakes all over the floor with Christmas decorations everywhere it looked like a winter wonderland. Matt had created a picture slide show of all of his favorite pictures of us with comments about things he loves about our relationship and me. At the end of the slide show he asked he to be his wife. After confirming that he was sure I said yes and 15 of our friends/family came in from every direction dancing for a quick flash mob/surprise engagement party. I was literally speechless that he could love me enough to put so much thought in time into arranging all of this just to make sure that I felt special and loved. I am so excited that I will get to spend the rest of my life with such a wonderful man. | 
