In April 2020, Hayley Anne Hitchcock left Seattle to move in with her parents and sister in her native Bozeman, Mont., during the Covid 19 pandemic. She didn’t plan on staying long; when things normalized, she intended to move to Denver.

She only signed up on the dating app Hinge, she said, “to get out of the house and talk to someone I wasn’t related to.”

Brandon Meyer Brown, who grew up in the Bay Area of California and had moved to Bozeman a few years earlier, was Ms. Hitchcock’s first date of several in a week. They met in June at Lockhorn Cider House on a warm afternoon.

Ms. Hitchcock said that as an extrovert, she was used to carrying the conversation when dating, but with Mr. Brown, she didn’t feel the need to, the conversation just flowed naturally. After awhile, the sun was shining so directly on Ms. Hitchcock that she moved across the table to sit next to Mr. Brown. Soon, they moved on to the Taproom, where Mr. Brown observed his own self-imposed dating rule; they shared chicken nuggets and a salad.

“You have to show that you like salad on the first date,” Mr. Brown said.

Ms. Hitchcock drove Mr. Brown home in her father’s truck at the end of the night, and before hopping out, he leaned in for a kiss.

Ms. Hitchcock met two other men that week. With the first, she kept comparing him to Mr. Brown. She met the second for coffee on a Saturday morning. Given that she had plans to see Mr. Brown again that same night, she cut that one short.

Because Ms. Hitchcock was living with her parents, Mr. Brown met them nearly right away. Soon, he crashed a weekly pickleball date Ms. Hitchcock had with her mother and her mother’s friends. (Never having played before, he watched a video first to prepare.)

They started spending nearly all their time together, with Mr. Brown often showing Ms. Hitchcock what he loved most about her native city.

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They did the 11-mile Pine Creek hike together, featuring steep switchbacks in the snow in the final ascent; the descent sometimes required sitting and sliding down. Although it was the hardest hike she had ever done, she didn’t complain.

By August, it was clear Ms. Hitchcock wasn’t leaving Bozeman, and in October, when her Seattle lease was up, Mr. Brown asked if she wanted to move in with him. She thought it was too early.

Mr. Brown, 34, is a contract recruiter with the Los Angeles office of Nova Talent, working remotely. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Oregon in Eugene. Ms. Hitchcock, 31, is a customer success manager with DocuSign, working remotely out of its San Francisco office. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

In August 2021, she moved in with him. Soon, they adopted George, an orange tabby kitten. After he died prematurely, they adopted another orange tabby named Wilson in April 2022.

When Ms. Hitchcock began planning her 30th birthday party in September 2022, that gave Mr. Brown the perfect cover to plan their engagement, with the help of Ms. Hitchcock’s mother. With her parents to host the birthday party, Mr. Brown took Ms. Hitchcock on a day cruise on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley. He proposed while on the cruise, and Ms. Hitchcock’s family met them with champagne when they returned. That night, the party celebrated her birthday and their engagement.

Their wedding weekend included a day of skiing at Big Sky Resort the day before. On the morning of the wedding, the groom, accompanied by both fathers and his close friends, did a cold plunge in the Gallatin River, walking on ice to find a suitable place.

On Dec. 17, the couple were married before 164 guests at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge in Gallatin Gateway, Mont. Kevin Reetz, a friend of the couple who was ordained by the American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated. Their ceremony, which included Jewish elements, was held outside in around 35 degree weather. The couple provided blankets and hand warmers for guests.

In his vows, Mr. Brown said, “within the first few weeks, I tried to be casual about us dating because it was so early, but I remember telling people she could be the one.”

Ms. Hitchcock, who is taking Mr. Brown’s name, said, “I promise to never stop trying to make you laugh, dancing with you in the kitchen, or using a bowl when a plate would make the most sense.” She also promised, “I will always consider playing one more game of pickleball.”