Iris Love Story: The Heartfelt Romance of Blake and Maria
Blake's Version
Maria and I appreciate you reaching out to us to hear how IRIS helped us connect and ultimately create a relationship and are now married for the record books. When I signed up for IRIS Dating, I had been single for a little over a year just to focus on myself.
When I decided to sign up it was with the convincing of a couple of friends of mine that were tired of me being the 3rd wheel. When I opened the app I had no expectations to meet anyone quickly and just went with it. Well after swiping for a while I had run out of swipes but noticed Maria's profile as the next one and thought she was cute.
So the next day when I logged back into the app thinking that her profile would be gone, it wasn't. I swiped right and we were a match which means Maria liked me first. Our little joke is that she ordered me online which is pretty true. We started talking the same day and after 2 or 3 weeks of messaging, we decided that it was time to finally meet in person.
Starting to Date
Now for the struggle. We lived around an hour and 45 minutes away from each other so we decided to meet in the middle which was West Palm Beach Florida. I had planned the date for us so all she had to do was show up which I was nervous that she might not. Luckily she did not disappoint and showed up roughly 5 minutes after I did. We went to one of the boutique restaurants called Hullabaloo which I would recommend to anyone. It's casual but romantic at the same time.
Anyway, after the first date, we had decided to continue to meet up halfway but sometimes I would drive to her so she didn't have to drive that far. After about 3 weeks of going on dates while working around our schedule, I asked her to spend the weekend with me in Miami with zero expectations other than to have a little fun. I took Maria to the Miami Marlins game, we spent the weekend at a pretty nice hotel and then it was time to go home.
Fast forward to July. We decided to take a trip together to visit my family in Illinois for my birthday and you better believe the family was going to meet Maria. My family loved her from the minute they met and at that point, I knew that she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. After the trip, we decided that we would spend every weekend together and make it like a little vacation away from our home. I would spend the weekend at her house and then she would spend the next weekend at mine.
She Said "Yes"!
On Maria's Birthday, I had set up an elaborate plan to propose. I had 2 of our close friends meet us for dinner making it seem like we were only celebrating her birthday at a nice restaurant but when we were walking around before our reservation I had predetermined the place that I was going to propose and when my friend said she was all set to take pictures via text, we made our way over there because I told Maria there was something exciting I wanted her to see.
When we walked up to the interesting object that I wanted her to see, I pointed something out on it for her to take a closer look at and made sure we had enough distance for me to get down on one knee. When she unsuspectingly turned around to me on the ground she let out the biggest sigh with a huge smile. She said "Yes"... After we had alternated going to each other's house for roughly 6 months, we decided to move in together in January 2022.
Fast forward to April 1, 2022, we decided to get married which was almost exactly 1 year from the date that we originally met. In the time we have been together, we have been connected at the hip. We couldn't be separated from each other even if you tried. Being with Maria has been the happiest time of my life and I cannot even explain the amount of joy or love that she brings to me. As Maria says, our relationship feels like a Hallmark movie."
Maria's Version
I had been single for many years, dating on and off with no good results; I even thought to myself, your standards are way too high, you need to settle for less. But my stubborn self was not doing it. I decided to get on IRIS, not only because it had really good ratings and reviews on Google, but also because I knew I wanted to meet someone special despite being just fine being on my own and having so many disappointing online dates.
First Impression
Blake says I liked him first, I still claim this statement is doubtful because I don't remember. I remember his pictures and something caught my attention and made me curious about him. We started messaging for a bit and decided to go on a date to finally meet in person. The distance, in another time of my life, would've been a deal breaker since day one, but for some reason, it didn't matter this time.
When I first saw him, I was disappointed at how handsome and cute he was lol, I figured he wasn't gonna like me. For the first 10 minutes of our date, I kept thinking, "he's not gonna call again, he's way out of my league, at least I'll get a free meal, hopefully". I'm usually shy when I first meet new people, especially guys, but that night, to my surprise, I didn't shut up... we didn't shut up. We talked all night and got to know each other better.
Dating and Proposal
That following week, we went out 4 more times, going back and forth to and from our distant homes, and exactly a week after, like in a Hallmark movie, he asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend... melted my heart at that moment. He has been exactly everything I ever wanted or dreamt of in a partner, and then more. He became my best friend, stole my heart, and has been spoiling me since day one.
When he proposed, I was surprised because it felt so soon, less than a year together, but I didn't hesitate to say "Yes", because nothing had ever felt so RIGHT for me. I'm grateful for him and the type of man he is to me every day. I love our beautiful family, and hoping to make it grow soon. To sum up, I honestly had zero hope and zero expectations when I first signed up for IRIS, but it worked out perfectly for us, and I will be forever grateful to you, and your very well-designed algorithm lol.