We had known about each other for a while by this point through mutual friends and being in band class together. We hadn't started talking until we both happened to be at the same friend's birthday party. While the party was meant to celebrate our friend, we couldn't stop from talking to each other! The hours seemed to fly by and when the party came to a close, We exchanged phone numbers and haven't stopped talking since.

We had decided on a return trip to the location where we had our first ever trip as a couple 5 years prior, Chincoteague Island, VA. Our first day was spent "inconspicuously" searching for nice places to take photos and taking in the area that we had visited so many years ago. Even with so much time between visits, part of the experience felt just as magical when we had first made the journey together. On the second day, I was determined to finally see her with the ring on her hand and nothing was going to stop me. Even with the previously sunny weather gone and storm clouds pelting us with cold rain, I got us out to a covered pier on the island with only a few fishermen and dropped down on one knee. The mix of nerves, chills, and water must have twisted my brain up because the proposal speech I had planned in my head came out as a fumbling pile of words. But the emotions rang through as she locked eyes with mine and said "Yes!". We stood there in each other's embrace, not a single care shed for the winds that picked up and sprayed us with water. We finally let go and made a bee-line for the car, excited to get out of the rain and towards our dinner reservations as a newly engaged couple We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you!