December 14, 2018 was the day we met. The day our story began. A story authored by God and filled with great love and immeasurable joy. God, being the extraordinary author that He is, began weaving the narrative of our love story together before we even met. Our story really began when Kevin and Kirsten’s sister, Gretchen, both felt a calling to go on a mission trip to Kenya with our church in August 2018. Gretchen says that within a short time of knowing Kevin, she knew he would be perfect for Kirsten. A few months after the Kenya trip, Gretchen convinced Kirsten to go with her to a Christmas party at the church. Within a few minutes of being at the party, Gretchen ran into Kevin and introduced him to Kirsten. Kevin joined their table and later in the evening, he and Kirsten paired up for Christmas trivia and won! That night when Kevin got home, he messaged Kirsten on Facebook and suggested that they meet up for coffee since they had won Starbucks gift cards in trivia (very smooth!). She accepted the offer and as they say… the rest is history.

Kevin’s grand scheme for the proposal all started when Kirsten bought him Lakers tickets for Christmas. The game was set for Sunday, February 23rd so Kevin recommended that they take Friday off and make a weekend trip of it. It turned out that the weekend in Los Angeles was just a ruse to get Kirsten to take the day off without sparking her curiosity, because Kevin had other plans for the day… On that Friday, Kevin suggested that the two get lunch in Corona Del Mar before heading up to Los Angeles. They had always loved walking around the charming seaside neighborhood, so it did not seem out of the ordinary when Kevin said he wanted to take a quick walk down to the water after lunch. When they got down to the beach, Kevin started acting a little nervous and walking ahead of Kirsten very quickly and she began to wonder if this could be the moment she had been waiting for. When they got to a spot marked with a heart, Kevin got down on one knee and asked Kirsten to marry him. She immediately said yes! Kevin then pointed out that he had hired a photographer and she had gotten photos of the special moment! After taking some additional photos on the beach, Kevin said that he wanted to go over to his parents’ house to tell them the good news and that they could FaceTime Kirsten’s parents once they got there. When they arrived at his parents’ place, they walked into their backyard and there was Kirsten’s next surprise… her parents! Kevin had been planning and scheming with Kirsten’s parents to have them fly out for the proposal. Kirsten’s mom and sister had coordinated with Kevin’s mom to host the most beautiful surprise engagement party after the proposal. It truly was the most magical day!