We're Getting Hitched!

Our love story began in the summer of 2017. Following her final semester as an Architecture major in Southfield at Lawrence Tech University, April decided to move back home to Grand Rapids. Her friend and former co-worker from Detroit invited her to join her and some friends on a weekend out on Lake St. Clair. Little did we know that that day would be the start of something special. Actually, both of us had other activities planned that weekend, but the lake was calling us on that hot summer day. We started talking and realizing we had a lot in common. Several weeks later we went on our first date and met at the Hopcat in East Lansing. It didn’t take long to see that we had made a great connection and something special together. It's amazing how fate can bring two people together from opposite sides of the state. Some of our favorite things to do together are Antique shopping and traveling. Sometimes we get lucky to do these both on our many vacations together! During our 6-year relationship, we’ve lived on opposite sides of the state to maintain our daily work lives. This has been a challenge for us, but it makes the times we’re together more special. We’ve chosen to spend a lot of our time together for traveling. Our ventures include: Our very first trip one year into our relationship to New York! That was probably hands down the best trip we experienced. After that we traveled to Jamaica for a best friend’s wedding, Savannah for our 4-year anniversary, San Francisco and Napa, which got put on the backburner for two years because of Covid, and most recently Nashville where April joined me for a work trip. All of these trips have unforgettable times and so many opportunities to return. We’re blessed to have these excursions and so many more to look forward to as we journey together, next will be honeymoon, Location T.B.D. ... Just before New Years rolled into 2023, we visited Birch Run and Frankenmuth for some after holiday shopping. Following a great chicken dinner at Zehnder's, I thought it would be nice to go out and see the lights all decked out for the Christmas season. April was opposed to this idea as it was late and had been such a long day of shopping and walking. She made it difficult to convince but, in the end, realized this was our only chance to see the beautiful lights in Downtown Frankenmuth. Despite the cold weather, we walked among the beautiful lights to the BIG Musical Christmas Tree. We had some people take our picture at the tree and then when everyone left, I got down on one knee holding out an engagement ring! April turned to me and was completely surprised and speechless. I had secretly planned this perfect opportunity that ended up very emotional and truly memorable. Oh...and she said YES! Our next adventure brings us both together to create our own stories each day. We’re looking forward to the next step in our relationship with April moving back to the east side, embracing change and sharing our days together.