It's the season of love, and a Colorado native and CU Boulder graduate might have one of the cutest, most Hallmark-esque love stories out there.
Austin Puckett was traveling from NYC to Denver back in January 2022 to meet some childhood friends, when destiny took over.
Hear him describe the moment he met his now-wife in the video player below:
"I looked over to my left, and someone was there talking to the gate agent," Puckett said. "I made eye contact with them, and it was Maddy."
Maddy Kinsella was a match he made on Hinge months earlier. And according to her, she has already noticed the "very tall" and "kind of cute" man.
"We hadn't really spoke up until that point," Kinsella said. "I texted him and said, 'Is there any chance you're boarding this flight from LaGuardia to Denver right now?'"
It was him. So they said their first "hellos" as Kinsella passed him in first class to head back to her seat in economy.
They had airplane clothes on, and COVID-19 masks were still in full force.
"I had no makeup on. I had whitening strips on my teeth, and I had little pimple patches on underneath my mask," Kinsella said. "I was in no state to be meeting a soul."
But confidence took over, and she invited him back to her row where there just happened to be an empty seat.
"I told the flight attendant, I was like, 'Hey, can I have a bottle of wine? Like, I matched with this girl that's on the plane and has an empty seat.' They were like, 'Yes, yes, here you go,'" Puckett explained.
They call that flight their first date, and fate didn't stop there. They found out they had the same plans for the weekend with a concert at Red Rocks on Friday and a ski trip to Breckenridge on Saturday.
So, not only did they get to meet up multiple times, but they got to meet each other's closest friends, too.
"You're seeing all of it," Puckett said. "If you don't like it, well, this is what it is."
Things clearly went well because a couple years later, Puckett got down on one knee in Greece. Last weekend, they said I do.
When it comes to advice, Kinsella said it best.
"Pursue the things that you feel pulled to do, and you might meet amazing people in the way that you know might be just a friend, or it might end up your husband."
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