We’re getting married!

It all started on Happy Lane in San Rafael at Sun Valley Elementary, when a 7-year-old Max (who already had impeccable taste), developed a crush on his new classmate, Alexandria. That crush lingered and grew for almost a decade, while Alex remained vaguely aware of Max's existence. Despite Alex's move to a different city and school in 2013, the excuse Max needed to spend more time with her came when their respective best friends, Jack and Nami, dated in high school. Alex saw Max with new eyes now that he had given up (publicly) eating dirt and banana peels, and after a fateful July day spent at the Marin County Fair in 2015, a romance began. A romance that quickly blossomed into something truly special. Alex and Max have shared many adventures over the last 9 (and counting) years, from fulfilling the quarterback-cheerleader stereotype from opposite sidelines, to graduating high school, to long(ish) distance in college, to sharing a "bubble" during COVID, to starting their careers living together in Concord and now Walnut Creek. And all of it has led to this... THEIR WEDDING!

Alex and Max’s proposal story started about eight and a half years into their relationship. With school behind them and careers underway, Max began the process of popping the question. With a diamond passed down from his great grandmother, Flora, and the help of Alyssa and Dave at Mercurius Jewelry (along with a committee of approvers well-versed in Alex’s tastes), Max crafted a ring he knew Alex would love. The location and day were planned as well: the beach outside of his grandma’s condo on Coronado Beach near San Diego the day before their ninth anniversary. Alex remained unaware of all this until the week before the flight to San Diego. At that point, the general gravity that this trip seemed to carry for everyone involved gave her the feeling that something was going on, and the fancy dinner reservation they had planned started to feel slightly suspicious. Max’s sister, Ella, joined them on the trip, and the cover story was that Max and Ella wanted to go to an All-Blacks rugby match (which they did) and spend some time on the beach while they were down there. On the evening that the proposal happened, the trio had a reservation at a French restaurant downtown and decided to walk along the beach on their way there. After walking for a few minutes, while Max carefully concealed the conspicuous ring-box-shaped bulge in his back pocket, they passed a beautiful, quieter spot on the beach. Ella doubled back because she “forgot her wallet,” and Max and Alex stopped to admire the view. Alex politely declined Max’s multiple requests that she put her stuff down, and when he insisted she started to realize what was going on. After a few quiet words about how much she meant to him, Max dropped to one knee before Alex, to the sound of the waves and some cheers from passersby. Needless to say, she said yes.