We met at a friend's soccer game one night senior year of high school. It was freezing outside and I was smart to bring a blanket. Carsten showed up with a mutual friend and in a short-sleeved shirt. He sheepishly asked to share my blanket, and we talked the rest of the game. The next day, Carsten had added me on all forms of social media to wish me a happy birthday (so millennial). It wasn't until later that we exchanged numbers and, by mid May, we were going on dates every weekend. Nine years later, we are excited to spend the rest of our lives together and celebrate with all of you!

Anyone that knows Brenna knows how hard it is to keep a secret away from her. I took it as a challenge, as she knows how bad I am at keeping secrets. Brenna thought I was headed to my parents' river house at the Northern Neck for a boys weekend. The truth was I stayed in Richmond at my parents house with my friends, faked my location online so Brenna would think I was at the river, and set up a small party with close family and friends in the backyard of the house we had bought together the month before. Brenna was still living at her apartment with her friends, who were all getting ready to go to "brunch" together. Once everything was ready at the house, I called Brenna, saying that our neighbor said our sprinkler system had been going off all day, and I asked her to go turn off the sprinklers. Brenna was starving, so she was not happy with this request. Her friends drove her over and dropped her off in front of our home. As she walked up to the front door, I came outside to Brenna saying "What are YOU doing here?!". That is when I got down on one knee and asked the big question. After she said yes and cried, we walked to the backyard, where more tears started flowing when she saw our families and friends all together. It was a great celebration of a surprise I still cannot believe I pulled off!