It was 2016 at Il Fornaio Restaurant in Santa Clara. Marcus was working as a bartender and Amanda as the event coordinator. Although they never worked side by side, Marcus couldn’t help but notice Amanda as she ran around the restaurant (sometimes literally) running the events. Amanda secretly looked forward to when Marcus had to stop by the office to count all of the money from his register before the end of his shift. It was a VERY small office so they were forced to be near each other…neither of them complained. Eventually Marcus struck up a conversation and finally asked Amanda on a date. Fast forward SIX years later and….

After several months of postponing a birthday dinner at a nice French restaurant in town *thanks a lot Marcus' appendix* Amanda thought, "Yes! Today is finally the day we get to go!" Little did she know...Marcus had another plan. Their Uber driver dropped them off at The Palace of Fine Arts where Amanda was a little confused but went along with whatever Marcus had planned before dinner. They walked down a path through the property along the water and headed toward a cute set up of flowers and candles. Still confused and assuming this set up was clearly for a random couple probably getting engaged, Amanda looked toward Marcus and it FINALLY hit her that this was for her and that "it" was happening. She basically blacked out and asked Marcus "are you serious!?" (only about 100 times). Her answer was YES! At that moment a small group of friends as well as Amanda's sister appeared cheering them on and congratulating them with hugs and teary eyes. Marcus and Amanda never made it to the restaurant that day...but it's agreed that the evening was pretty spectacular none the less.