We feel that we've known each other for so long it's hard to put a firm date on the first day we met. Our introduction was definitely through a common group of friends. The first memories that we have of each other include hanging out at one of our favorite spring food festivals, Hogs For The Cause, in March 2014. Several years of friendship followed before we started dating.

It started out like any other summer Saturday. We had breakfast and talked about plans for the day. There was an exhibit at NOMA on Queen Nefertari’s Egypt, which was Sean’s plan to get us over to City Park. Lunch at Cafe Degas before the trip to NOMA was a nice treat, since Jessie loves French cuisine. When we finished lunch and the Egyptian exhibit Sean suggested that we check out the New Orleans botanical garden, “since we’re so close.” It was a very warm day (we were in a heat dome), but everything was in bloom and the gardens were lovely. We found a shaded garden with porch swings hanging from the oaks, this was the specific area of the garden that Sean was searching for while we meandered through the other areas. While relaxing on the porch swing we talked about our time together and plans for the future. It was a perfect opportunity for Sean to share what was on his mind for the future together. He then got off the porch swing and down on one knee, and he asked Jessie to marry him. She (of course!) said “yes!” 🥰 We had about 5 minutes to sit together and enjoy our new engagement before the gardens closed. We were able to celebrate that evening with dinner and drinks with a few friends in New Orleans.