Five months after Sam accepted a new job at Marketing by Design in Beverly, MA, she met Austin. While working together, Sam and Austin slowly developed a really great friendship. Shortly after they met, Sam asked Austin to join her and some coworkers for drinks and dinner numerous times. Much to her frustration, he remained as stubborn as ever and constantly declined the invitation. Even when she asked for just the two of them to go out, he always said no. One day, they were both able to leave work early and finally got that drink together. From there, they got closer and closer until Austin FINALLY admitted he had feelings for Sam. They started dating right when Sam was leaving for a work trip and the rest is history.
A bit of an untraditional timeline of events led to the engagement. After buying their first home in the midst of a global pandemic, a year of quarantine was enough for Sam and Austin to know that they could love and tolerate each other for the rest of their lives. They began to talk about their future together and it was decided that they wanted to get married in 2022. With a crazy shortage on venues, they were lucky to happen across the Publick House and immediately went to see it in person. Having checked all their boxes, they decided to book the venue that week, before being formally engaged. As Austin does with most things in his life, he procrastinated on buying a ring until early September and was told it would not be ready until the end of October. Luckily, the jeweler came through and he was able to pick it up while traveling back to Peru to see his parents. This gave him the perfect cover to get up early on Saturday morning and drive home to surprise Sam. On his way, he picked up flowers, champagne and a box of sweets from a local bakery. After happily eating two of the baked goods to make room for the ring box in between the macarons and mini cheesecakes, Austin was able to sneak everything upstairs to surprise Sam. Knowing the goodies from the bakery would be enough to spark her interest, Sam opened the box and got the shock of her life when she saw the ring box inside. From there, a few sweet things were said (he was so nervous he doesn't completely remember) and Sam happily said YES! The moment was capped off by a tearful hug/kiss and their new puppy, Willow, stealing the ring box and shredding it to pieces!