Liz and Michael’s story began on a Sunday morning in San Diego, where Liz and her friend Taylor were on the couch recovering from the night before. Liz had only just moved to San Diego, and Taylor was helping her meet new people; scrolling through her phone, Taylor stumbled upon a photo of Michael and recognized him and his friends from school. Realizing he too lived in San Diego, Taylor convinced Liz to meet up with him. For their first official date, Michael did what he does best: he made a plan. True to form, it was thoughtful, well-timed, and likely optimized in a spreadsheet somewhere. Fortunately, he was very adamant about breaking the stereotype of guys never specifying whether they’re getting dinner or just drinks, so he invited Liz to drinks. Unfortunately, he did not know that Liz cannot read. Liz arrived absolutely starving — a detail Michael had somehow failed to factor into his otherwise flawless model. Nonetheless, the chemistry outweighed the hunger, and Michael has made sure food has been included in every plan ever since. Shortly after their initial disconnect, Liz and Michael hit it off. They began by playing the Main Line name game, realizing they had way too many shared friends and experiences to have never met before. Things got really strange when they both realized they shared the Philly suburbs, Avalon, Penn State, and now San Diego as common ground. Shortly after, Liz shared that she would be traveling for a while and would be gone too soon for a second date - until she realized Michael was on the same flight back to Philly to go down the shore for the summer. Coincidences like this simply do not exist, not even in Hallmark movies. Now Michael isn’t sure about a lot of things, but he was sure about this; sure enough to email himself the receipt from their first date with the caption “this is the one”, and sure enough to ask her on a second date three days after the first. Shooters shoot. They texted all weekend while she was on a bachelorette party in Savannah, Michael proving that persistency really is key. When they went back to Avalon for the month of July, Liz and Michael became inseparable. They even made it through the countless, awkward inquisitions about “what they were” before even knowing themselves. Since then, Liz & Michael have enjoyed numerous beach and ski vacations together, so much so that Michael popped the question he’d been waiting to ask since that first date during an innocent excursion in Revelstoke. While Liz had absolutely no idea that this was happening, she did have her mind set on marrying him - so that’s exactly what they decided to do!