How it all began
Despite years of working around the Texas Capitol, Mattie and Ben did not meet until January of 2022. At the time, Mattie was working for a State Senator who was hosting a virtual event about the electric grid with ERCOT, where Ben was working. Mattie and Ben were tasked with setting up a virtual meeting for more than 400 attendees, and they bonded over their fear of potential technical difficulties.
As they prepared for the event with multiple Zoom calls, Ben was struck by Mattie’s smile and the sparkle in her eyes when she laughed, but he did not know Mattie was single, and he certainly did not think the interest was mutual.
That changed on the night of the event when Mattie and Ben, who still had not met in person, began to text (and flirt) about the event, their favorite Austin restaurants, their love of dogs, and, of course, Mattie’s famous margarita recipe.
While the debate rages on about who asked who out, they both remember their first date. Not knowing about Mattie’s… “food particularities”… Ben ordered duck fries to share at Bar Peached in Austin. Mattie smiled politely as she moved the food around on her plate. They were both too nervous to eat, but why couldn’t he have just taken her for Pizza?
Lucky for Ben, the duck fries were not a deal breaker. A couple of years and many pizza dates later, Ben and Mattie feel blessed by the paths they took to find each other, and they look forward to celebrating their new lives together with friends, family, and most importantly, Lincoln!
Fast forward to 2023 - the plans were changing daily. Ben knew he wanted to ask Mattie marry him, but he couldn’t decide how. He considered asking during their planned vacation to Grand Cayman Island, but the thought of traveling with the ring was horrifying. He knew Mattie would want something simple, but he wanted to make sure it would be perfect.
He decided to ask Mattie near her “happy place” in Austin - Townlake. After many hours of searching for the perfect spot, Ben decided to ask Mattie on the balcony of the Hotel Loren, which overlooked Austin and the trail that they had run and walked together many times.
Ben created a plan with his sister, Clara who would pretend she was coming to visit from Houston in late November and had booked a room at the Hotel Loren. The night before her trip, Clara was “forced to cancel” and was “unable to get a refund on her room.” What horrible luck!
Ben asked Mattie if she would want to have a staycation since the room was available. Fortunately, Mattie said yes, but she also asked if they could cancel their dinner reservations and order sandwiches from Thundercloud instead. Ben responded, “Let’s see how we feel tomorrow before canceling any reservations.”
They arrived at the Hotel and Ben was positive that Mattie would notice the ring in his pocket. He had hoped to wait until sunset, but he nervously struggled to make conversation as they sat on the balcony and sipped champagne.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore - he told Mattie that he knew she was special from the moment he “met” her on Zoom and that every day of their relationship since then had further proved to him how amazing she was. He got on one knee and asked her if she would marry him. Admittedly, Ben was too nervous to remember Mattie’s answer, but he now knows she said yes!
The rest is history
