Abby: There’s some debate around when we first met, some might say Fall of 2014 when Taylor joined the SSU Men’s Golf Team. For me, it wasn’t until Fall of 2015 at the Sonoma State’s charity tournament when I started to be aware of the sophomore, Taylor Manna. We were all being asked to announce our name, year, hometown and one fun fact in front of everyone playing in the event. Taylor being the ham that he is, said his fun fact was, “I played basketball my sophomore year of high school, and my career high was 7 points.” He had everyone in stitches, and I looked over at him in awe and slight jealousy, at how easily funny he was. Ever since then, I would hear his funny comments and I wanted to get to know this ‘naturally funny’ guy more. Taylor: Abby and I spent a lot of time around one another as members of the Sonoma State golf team. However, I’m not sure she could’ve picked me out of a lineup for the first year or so. Things finally started to change when I returned my sophomore year. Despite her high and mighty status as Senior, Abby would frequently initiate playful conversations anytime our paths crossed. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Abby was flirting with me and hoped that I would make a move. I refused to believe that a beautiful, outgoing, funny, and talented girl like Abby was interested in me. It wasn’t until she put her hand on my leg at a party that I understood what was going on. The rest, they say, is history.

Abby: It had been 6 years, so any random vacation would get me thinking ‘Is he going to propose?’ So when Taylor mentioned that he wanted us to take a trip to the Oregon Coast before he started traveling in the summer, I was on high alert. So when the weekend of May 7th came, he tried to play it cool for me not to catch on. On Friday, we were supposed to leave at 3:00 but he said work went later than expected and came home at 5:00. I’d like to add he wasn’t even packed yet. So I started to question if this was the weekend, since he seemed so ill prepared. On Saturday, we made it to Cannon Beach and saw Haystack Rock (which was pretty crowded). Taylor wanted to go walk along the beach, which I accepted hesitantly since the rain was on and off again. My suspicion started to increase the more miles we walked. It wasn’t until mile 2 I asked him if he wanted to turn around, and he said, ‘Just a little bit more.’ He wanted me to take a picture of him with my polaroid camera looking away towards the the ocean with his back to me, which I did. He then asked me if I wanted to take the same picture … I said, ‘Suuuuure.’ He held onto the picture, and once it developed he showed me an overexposed picture with what seemed to look like a yellow bar blocking me in the picture. I asked, ‘What is that?’ He responded by getting down on one knee asking, ‘Will you marry me?’ I obviously said yes, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Luckily, we had so much time to talk about everything since we had a 2 mile walk back to the car. Taylor: The day of the proposal started with breakfast at Pig N’ Pancake, which was walking distance from our Airbnb. After breakfast, we drove south to Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. My plan was to find a quiet spot on the beach, take a photo of the ring using the polaroid camera, and pop the question once the photo developed. After a nerve-racking two mile walk down the beach, I finally took a photo of the ring as Abby looked out at the ocean. After a few minutes, we checked the photo only to see it was overexposed and an orange blob was starting to form. Hand up, I’m no expert in photography and if I had to guess the light rain probably didn’t help the photo develop. After 15 minutes, it was clear that the ring wasn’t going to be visible in the photo. At that point I got down on one knee and asked the love of my life to marry me.