We both, independently, decided to move to Eugene, OR to help start a new church on the same team. Neither of us knew each other before moving, however, Andrew did do a little Instagram stalking... We met the day Andrew got to town. Our church plant team held weekly dinners and there happened to be one the day Andrew moved. Claire introduced herself first and got to doing what she does best: impromptu interrogation. Over the next 4 weeks, Claire, Andrew, and 3 others in the church plant became very close friends and explored the state of Oregon.

Claire and Andrew were asked to model for a photographer's retreat (basically, a styled shoot for other photographers to come to). Andrew saw the opportunity, and took it. He reached out to the main photographer and planned the proposal. He asked the main photographer to ask Claire to write each other letters to read on the day of the shoot. The shoot was at 5:30am at Cape Kiwanda and we had to wake up around 3am to make it to the location in time (yikes!). The weather was perfect and we got to watch a beautiful sunrise. During the shoot, we walked to the top of a rock cliff that overlooked the famous Haystack Rock. We started taking some pictures and then the photographer said that we would do our letters up there. Claire read hers to Andrew first, and then it was Andrew's turn. Claire did not pick up on the proposal until the last paragraph. He asked her to stand up, got down on a knee, and asked her to marry him. The rest of the shoot consisted of lots of shrieking, excitement, and jumping up and down (Claire mostly).