We met online in late March 2024, talked for a few weeks, and had our first date on May 30th in Karlsruhe, Germany where we visited the zoo, had burgers for lunch, and walked around the castle grounds. We had a few more dates after that before we officially became a couple on June 30th. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of adventures and ever-increasing love. We had both prayed for this for a long time and knew early on that we wanted to marry, so we started making plans to meet each other's family (and started planning for our wedding). We got engaged on March 31st at the Ludwigsburg Castle and are now looking forward to getting married in December!

We were talking about marriage (and even starting to make some wedding plans like picking a date and location) by late 2024, so the engagement wasn't totally a surprise. What was a surprise was when and how Alan would propose. After Alan meet Megan's parents in October and Megan meet Alan's parents in January, our parent's finally met each other at the end of February - something we wanted before we got engaged. After that, Megan waited (not so patiently) for Alan to carry out his plan. Alan convinced several of his friends and co-workers to help with the proposal at the castle grounds in Ludwigsburg where he works. Megan came to Marbach to visit on Sunday evening with plans to go see the flowers on Monday, March 31st, at the castle grounds. After walking up to the Rapunzel Tower - overlooking the valley and castle, Megan spotted Alan's friends holding a sign (which he had spent the previous week making) which read "MEGAN MARRY ME". Megan squeezed Alan's arm as she realized it was happening as Alan got down on one knee. He apologized for "making you wait so long" and asked, "will you marry me?" to which Megan responded, "YES!" After placing the ring on Megan's finger, hugging, kissing, and taking a few photos, Alan and Megan joined Alan's friends back at the restaurant for champagne, coffee, desserts, and lunch. It was a beautiful day and it still feels so unreal - we will remember it fondly forever! (Thank you to all who made this day possible and celebrated with us!)