It was 2011, Lauren and John were both seniors at Vincentian Academy, and prom was right around the corner. The final bell rang for the day and Lauren was getting ready to leave her English class when her teacher pulled her aside and asked her to wait while the other students were dismissed. Next thing she knew, John was coming in holding a makeshift microphone while being followed by a group of guys holding computer speakers. They were playing the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and he was lip singing along... "You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you..." which was a re-creation from the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger (Lauren's celebrity crush). Given that Lauren hates to be the center of attention, she turned beet red. I mean beet red. But nonetheless, she said, "Yes!" to John's prom-posal. They went off to prom together and had a wonderful time and neither was scared away from each other's dance moves!

Lauren and John's bond flourished the summer of 2011, but the start of college was quickly approaching. A long 409 miles stretched between Kenyon College and Wake Forest University. They were faced with the decision: break-up or give long distance a shot. They overcame their fears of the unknown and decided they had something special so they might as well go for it. Long distance wasn't easy, but surprise visits, hand written letters, long Skype sessions, and lots of trust helped them get through the 4 years. And then they graduated college! But...the road wasn't over yet. Lauren wanted to pursue her doctorate of optometry in Philadelphia and John wanted to pursue his dream of working in the sports industry at the Pittsburgh Pirates. While supporting each other's dreams, they continued to date, this time separated by only 313 miles. Another 4 years flew by, this time supported by frequent visits, surprise ice cream deliveries, and lots of love.

It was a July day, storms were being forecasted, and John kept talking about how much he wanted to kayak at North Park Lake. Lauren was in no mood to be kayaking in a thunderstorm (been there, done that and it wasn't pretty). However, John was persistent, so Lauren agreed. The kayak trip started off fairly normal until all of a sudden John started paddling really fast while Lauren kept wanting to just "leisurely" kayak. They were almost at the boathouse when John started to pretend that he threw his back out. "We have to pull over onto this bank" he said. She had been on high when-is-he-finally-going-to-proposal alert for some time now. But she thought, he'd never propose to her while in gym shorts...famous last words. They pulled over to the bank, got out of the kayaks, and finally John got down on one knee and asked Lauren to spend the rest of her life with him! Lauren said YES! again! Their closest family and friends were watching in a distance from the boathouse and cheered. They popped the champagne and spent the rest of the day celebrating!