Their relationship began with a lie, or at least a mutually unshared truth.
When Nicholas John McClure and Jinie Kwak matched on the dating app Hinge in the fall of 2020, both had their locations set to Denver, but neither actually lived there. “We joke that we catfished each other,” Mr. McClure said.
Mr. McClure, 35, who grew up in Tucson, Ariz., had a Denver setting because he was planning to move there from Washington, where he was working in international development. He now works remotely as the senior environment project manager at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute. He has a bachelor’s degree in international relations and affairs from George Washington University and a master’s degree in environmental management from Yale.
Ms. Kwak, 36, who was born in South Korea and raised in Colorado Springs, has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and advertising technology from the University of Colorado Boulder. She was residing in Brooklyn as of 2020. Her role as the managing director of global communications and marketing at the advertising agency VML allowed her to work remotely, so she embarked on a solo road trip out west that summer, visiting national parks and relatives in Colorado. She chose Denver as her location because it was the closest city to her at the time.
“I put my stuff in storage knowing, ‘OK, I’ll be away for maybe six months at most,’” Ms. Kwak said. “I had every intention of resuming my New York City life.”
After weeks of texting, they met for drinks at a bar in the River North Art District of Denver, on the evening of Election Day 2020. “It’s going to be much more fun at a bar chatting than it will be doomscrolling in our separate apartments,” Mr. McClure said.
“He was really sweet and we had great conversation,” Ms. Kwak said. “I just remember time passing super quickly.”
The two moved to a second location nearby for tacos, and afterward shared their first kiss. “We both left feeling kind of giddy,” Mr. McClure said. (It would take a few more days for the presidential results to be determined.)
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The couple went on a few more dates in rapid succession before a monthlong separation while Mr. McClure quarantined ahead of the holidays so he could visit his grandmother in Tucson. While they privately fretted about the potential loss of their momentum, Mr. McClure planned a Zoom date in which they dressed up, ordered food from the same restaurant in Denver, and ate together before watching the same movie.
“It sounds really goofy now, but at the time it was the best we could do,” Mr. McClure said. Ms. Kwak appreciated the clear demonstration of his interest. “I think more than anything, the effort meant a lot to me,” she said.
Still, Ms. Kwak expected to return to New York, which Mr. McClure only learned about after they had been out several times. It was less an obfuscation than an ambivalence about where life would take her next.
“I had been hopping from Airbnb to Airbnb, which he kind of knew,” Ms. Kwak said, explaining that she needed a quiet space for work. “But I think he just thought I was in transition. I said, ‘I think I want to be here long term,’ and I was testing the waters to see how he felt about that.”
Ms. Kwak bought a townhouse in Denver in early 2021, which she intended to have as an investment property, and stayed with Mr. McClure elsewhere in the city while she waited for her belongings to be shipped from New York. They enjoyed the time so thoroughly that he eventually moved into the home with her — and she decided to stay in Denver for good.
While on a vacation through Spain in May 2023, Mr. McClure proposed to Ms. Kwak in a hidden courtyard near the Seville Cathedral. As neither liked the idea of a big wedding, they decided to elope, with a bigger celebration planned for Sept. 22 at Mountain Crust Event Venue in Denver.
On July 19, amid wildflower season, they wed at sunset in the Silver Basin of the San Juan Mountains near Telluride, Colo., in a scenic spot suggested by their photographer, Katie Dawn. As wedding officiants are not required in the state of Colorado, the couple privately exchanged vows and signed their marriage license on the hood of a rented Jeep. In keeping with the Jewish tradition, Mr. McClure stepped on a glass.
They returned to Telluride around 9 p.m., at which time the only place still open was a dive bar where they ate tater tot tacos and a fellow patron bought them Champagne. “It was both romantic and honestly very casual,” Ms. Kwak said. “We just did what felt right to us in the moment.”
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