Jess first laid eyes on Chris in 2018 while he was DJing Emo Night at the Caledonia Lounge in Athens. Smitten by the cute DJ with great taste in sad music, she immediately asked her friends to introduce her. They finally met at his rooftop show on the Georgia Theatre rooftop (you can even spot Chris playing a set in the background of this photo). From there, they started hanging out regularly but insisted on being “just friends”.

At the end of July 2020, Chris moved to Atlanta and Jess headed to Savannah, but a four hour drive wasn’t about to stop them from spending time together. Over the next few months, they took turns making the trip: Atlanta weekends, Savannah adventures, and plenty of playlists for the road. Distance may have separated them, but it actually brought them closer than ever.

During the height of COVID, Chris spent months transforming his GMC van into a cozy home on wheels for a cross-country adventure. He set out from Georgia, making his way across the Southwest, camping under the stars and soaking up the quiet freedom of the open road.

A few weeks into the trip, he invited Jess to join him for part of the journey. They met in San Francisco and spent the next ten days camping, hiking, exploring, soaking in desert hot springs, and watching movies curled up in the van. Their route led them all the way to Las Vegas, where they traded campgrounds and trailhead parking lots for a $42 hotel room and wandered through nearly empty casinos into the early hours of the morning.

The next day, it was time for Jess to fly home. As they said their goodbyes in the airport’s cell phone lot, Chris asked if they could make things official right before, in his words, he “sent her ass back to Georgia” and hit the road again.

After spending much of the year unemployed, Jess landed a job in administration at a Covid hospital in Chinle, Arizona. Shortly after she arrived, the company needed to bring on more logistical support and Chris’s background in festival operations turned out to be the perfect match.

Two weeks later, Chris joined Jess in Chinle. For the next six months, they helped run Covid response efforts at hospitals and vaccination sites across Arizona and Pennsylvania.

In the fall of 2021, the couple officially moved in together. Around the same time, the company Chris worked for in the music festival world happened to need a graphic designer and Jess finally had the chance to put her art school degree to use. The years that followed were filled with live music, unforgettable events, incredible food, and an endless supply of cuddles from the sweetest puppy to ever exist: Dot.