Years before any spark of romance was even an unconscious thought to either of them, Maren and Matt met in April of 2014 at a show of The Representatives' production of "The Rakes Progress". Matt was the Co-Artistic Director of The Representatives, an indie theatre company that performed political plays in NYC apartments, and Maren was a sophomore in college at Pace University, coming to check out some cool underground theatre. Matt greeted Maren as she entered the apartment where the show was taking place, and she remembers his charismatic and welcoming energy.

For the next three years, Maren worked her way up through The Representatives' hierarchy, going from door attendant, to bartender, to hospitality manager, to Assistant Director. Maren and Matt worked together as friends and colleagues through the end of The Reps' reign, which came to a close in May of 2017.

Though they stayed in limited contact for the next two years, it wasn't until Maren texted Matt in March of 2019, looking for community and a creative outlet that they reunited or, as they put it, "re-met". Matt invited Maren to a reading of his pilot script of "Little Dick". Maren attended, gave her honest feedback, and from there, Maren and Matt began writing and producing together.

Fast forward to October of 2019: after 7 months of writing together and building their production company, One-Eyed Rabbit, Matt and Maren started realizing their attraction for each other. When writing and producing meetings turned into 2 and 3 hour lunches and dinners, and brainstorming meetings kept them up later and later at night, the butterflies became more and more difficult to leave unsaid.

After some flirtatious nights out and holding hands while singing Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper's "Shallow" in an Uber from Williamsburg to Midtown, it was time to get real. Finally, on a fateful October night on Maren's Brooklyn rooftop, after an all-day writing meeting and dinner, when Matt got weird, stiff, awkward, and started pacing around the rooftop nervously, Maren finally addressed the attraction.

"You're cute." Maren said, "And it's getting harder and harder to pretend like you're not cute." In response, Matt's neuroticism was in full force as he agreed that Maren was also attractive, but he was super protective of his current place in life and not-knowing-what-he-wanted-ness saying "I want to be able to kiss you and then run away and then come back and kiss you again and then jump off this rooftop and come back and kiss you again." Maren replied with the phrase that has stuck with Matt since that night, and really made him think differently about this moment: "I like you, but I don't need you." She assured him that their production company would come first, and that if it didn't work out between them, she would be just fine to move on.

With that, they kissed, on a chilly October night in Brooklyn, and yes, fireworks did seem to explode around them as they kissed for the first time.

It took another month for Maren and Matt to sort out their feelings along with how much their production company meant to them, and accept the very large risk they were undertaking in pursuing a romantic relationship with each other. At one point Matt even called it off, saying he didn't want to "kiss anymore" and potentially ruin what they had with One-Eyed Rabbit. That quickly went out the window after a writing research trip to upstate New York, visiting Maren's Aunt and Uncle and going out dancing, when Matt and Maren realized there was no going back.

Shortly after, Maren took a two-week trip to India. Excited to go on a date with Matt upon her return, their romantic tryst was delayed a week when Matt booked a last-minute commercial that filmed in Madrid, Spain.

FINALLY, the day after Matt's return from Madrid, they went out on their first date. They ate Mexican food at Fonda and saw the soon-to-be-Academy-Award-Winning film Parasite at Nighthawk Cinema in Brooklyn.

And they never looked back. From December - March they met each other's family and friends, who all quickly realized what a solid match Maren and Matt were. The COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 sped up their process of moving in together, Matt eventually coming down from Inwood, Manhattan to move into Maren's Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment. They got a puppy that they named Odin, they fell deeply in love, and in August of 2021, with a sparkly diamond ring and a "drumline" comprised of videos of their family and friends drumming, Matt proposed to Maren in the vineyards of Castello di Amorosa, a vineyard and castle in Napa Valley, California.

Maren and Matt are so excited to take this step forward in their love and commit their lives to each other. And they can't wait to share that moment with all of you!