He swiped right. She swiped right. She said “hey.” He said “date?” Or something close to that. Classic millennial love story. We met in December of 2018, so the first time we met was actually to buy his mom a Christmas gift. I thought it was sweet and was happy to meet in a crowded mall because you never know who could be a serial killer now a days. I may have watched one too many true crime series 🤷🏻‍♀️ I told him to meet me in front of Nordstrom, where there were a few tables and chairs. I arrived a little early to scope things out and he approached from an angle where I wasn’t looking. He asked, “Is this seat taken?” Which startled me at first but after the initial shock, I thought was a cute “pickup” line. We went to Lush and got his mom a gift pack with the help of a wonderful salesperson who I actually knew from work and I had no idea worked there also. Not only was she there for our first “date” but she’s actually in the bridal party as well! Hi Chelsea! After walking around the mall for a bit, we said “see you later,” and continued texting. On the first official date, we went to Cheesecake Factory (a fan favorite) and went to watch Spiderman: into the Spiderverse. A couple weeks into hanging out, we went to Disneyland and he bought an annual pass so I knew he was either 1) a crazy person, 2) a fellow Disney fan or 3) really serious about getting to know me and explore this relationship. Pss.. Disney is a big part of our relationship 😜

About a year and a half into our relationship, this crazy thing called Covid happened. Honestly, not much happened during that time but we moved in together and survived so I guess that’s a good sign.

In the first few conversations, I had made it very clear that he should know if he wanted to spend his life with me by the time two years had passed. And then covid threw a wrench in that plan. When three years was approaching, I was getting real antsy. We were approaching our mid 30s and I still didn’t have a ring on this finger… come on man! Anyways, I came home from work one day and was getting ready to take a nap before our weekly Disney date. He was being super attentive and set up my lunch and tv show. Told me we should take a new holiday picture when we get to Disneyland later since we hadn’t had an updated one in a while. Didn’t really think too much about it since things were starting to get back to “normal.” We put on our holiday outfits and headed out the door. I may or may not have checked him out as we were leaving (as I normally do) but definitely didn’t see any boxes in those jean pockets so didn’t think anything was happening that night. Little did I know that he thoroughly thought about getting through security and didn’t want to pull anything out of his pockets that would create attention to his sneaky plan. (He wrapped it in a napkin and put it in his wallet!) We’re walking through the gate and he asks if we should go take our picture and I said, “absolutely not! I’m hungry, we need to get food!” (And my blood sugar was low! Damn diabetes!) We go get food and then he kindly asks, “ok, ready to take the picture?” And I’m like, “yeah! I’m fed now so all is good!” We go to stand in line in front of the castle and they let us know that in about ten minutes the lights are going to go down and a four minute show will happen on the castle and if they don’t get to us before, they’ll get to us right after the show. No big deal, I had my meal, I can wait now. Oh look, it’s our turn! We got in right before the show so that’s perfect! We take a few pictures, the cast member says she’s going to put us in a few poses, she has me turn around (I’m thinking it’s one of those magic shots where tinker bell flys and I’m looking at her) and then she tells me to turn back around and BAM! There Andre is on one knee and I make the most horrifying sound (think a hyena and whale had a baby, it would be the sound that creature makes) and after not answering him for about 2 full minutes because I’m in full blown hysteria, I gave him an answer and that’s the reason we’re on this website! Right after that, the lights went out and the little show happened on the castle and it was perfect timing so I could clean my face and gather myself before they finished our little photo shoot! ✨