I had friends that were planning a trip up to Tahoe for New Years and encouraged me to join in on the fun. I knew about half of the group going so I figured it would be a great way to celebrate the year end. When everyone arrived at the cabin, I met Abby and was immediately intrigued! Over the course of the weekend I grew more interested throughout our talks and countless card game battles. The entire weekend was a blast (sorry no NYE kiss folks!) but I was left wondering what to do, if she was interested... and did I want to date long distance (Abby in Dallas, TX and me in San Francisco, CA)?! The day after everyone got back from the trip I gave Abby a call. I kept her up into the wee hours of the night talking before I put it out there that I was VERY interested and wanted to keep talking! Deliriously she agreed and over the next week we spent most nights on the phone continuing to get to know each other better. I was sold after a few more calls and bought a flight out to Dallas to take her on a date! By the end of the weekend I was all in for Abby and have been ever since. Can't wait to celebrate our BIG DAY!!

Stew knew it was going to take some careful planning and a little misdirection to make the proposal a complete surprise. I had a girls trip to Nashville planned in February and Stew was in NYC for work and heading to visit a friend in Portland that same weekend. I FaceTimed him during his “layover in SF” - little did I know that he was actually at the Orange County airport having just spent the day with my family and asking my dad for permission to marry his daughter. Well played, Stew. Fast-forward a few weeks to the middle of March. I invited my sister, Grace up to SF for the weekend and Stew offered to help with the plans. He threw out the idea of Mt. Tamalpais for sunset and without much thought I bought snacks and packed us a picnic bag. He even offered to pick Grace up and grab me from work so we could have plenty of time up there. I hopped in the car and was focused on wrapping up work before enjoying the weekend. We drove up to the "spot" and I remember being slightly confused since we had never been here before. Stew brushed off my questions and we started walking down the hill for our picnic. Grace mentioned that she left her camera battery in the car but the ocean view distracted me enough to not notice her brief absence. Before I know it, Stew is saying my name and as I turn around he is down on one knee. We both don't remember much of the words that were said (I am sure they were great, Stew!) except him saying "Will you marry me?" I of course said YES. It took a few minutes for everything to sink in. I started laughing as Stew pointed out the photographer that we walked directly past on our walk down. And in true Schafer family fashion, the rest of the gang (flying in from Southern California and NYC), came running down the hill to give hugs and celebrate! We spent the next day celebrating in Napa Valley and before we knew it, we were planning a wedding!!