We’re getting married!

Many dream of their love story beginning with a quirky, romantic scene where they lock eyes with their soulmate for the first time as total strangers and in that moment they instantly know that’s the person they want to spend the rest of their life with. However, for many of us we know that’s rarely how it actually goes - especially in our unique story. We first met in June 2015 at U.S. Army Base Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas while preparing to mobilize to the Middle East for a 10 month deployment. After a day of combat training in the 97° Texas heat, we went out to a local pub with some friends from our platoon to grab some dinner and a beer, despite being told by our leadership that drinking alcohol was prohibited during training (breaking the rules since day 1, are you surprised?). Needless to say, word travels fast on an Army base and leadership found out about our little beer-filled rendez vous and, as you can imagine, they did not go easy on us. The reprimand we received from this incident is what sparked some of our first conversations together, and we haven’t stopped talking since. Fast forward 3 months later, 7,688 miles across the world, and an 18 hour flight from Texas to the Middle East and we decided to make it official while stationed in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Just 2 months later Ray was quickly relocated to Al Taqaddum, Iraq while I remained with the HQ sector of our unit in Kuwait, and we were almost completely disconnected and unable to talk or communicate. It was one of the most challenging times of our relationship not knowing if he was okay, or when we would see eachother again - and then I got the best birthday present of my life to date. A month and a half later he surprised me and came back to Kuwait on my birthday, December 27th and it was the most overwhelming feeling of relief I’ve ever felt. It was during that time apart that I realized I was head over heels in love with him, and that I never wanted to spend another day without him for the rest of my life. We said our first “I love you’s” in a tiny little make-shift movie theater at the Camp Arifjan USO, where we would constantly get yelled at for “fraternizing” and snuggling up/holding hands, and from there on *drumroll* the rest is history. We returned stateside from the deployment together in April 2016 and started our life together as we know it. Through moving into our first apartment in 2017, both of us graduating college in 2018 and 2019, adopting our four fur babies from 2017 - 2019, buying our first home in 2018, and welcoming our first child into the world together in 2022, we’ve accomplished so much already and have built a life together that is truly a dream. Though our origin story is unique, it’s absolutely perfect to us and we can’t wait to see what this next chapter of our lives has in store for our little family. Thank you to all of our friends and family for celebrating and supporting our love during these last 7 years, we love you all so much and are so grateful. Cheers to forever!

On November 12, 2019 Ray planned a spontaneous trip for us to spend the weekend together in one of our favorite tourist spots, New York City. I had talked previously about how exciting it would be to visit during the holidays and see the infamous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, ice sculptures, and ice skating rink in person and Ray was determined to make that dream a reality. On November 13, 2019 we woke up bright and early, got breakfast and coffee from a delicious cafe near our hotel, and hopped on the subway to Rockefeller Center. When we got there, I was in awe at the decorations, the ice rink, the tree, the hot cocoa cart, everything was all so much prettier in person than I had ever imagined and in that moment I turned to Ray to see his reaction, and he was standing there on the balcony overlooking the ice skating rink and the Christmas Tree with a ring box in his hand and telling me how much he loved me. Once I realized what was happening, tears started rolling down my face and I couldn’t find the words. I was flooded with so many emotions, and all I could do was nod my head “yes”. It was truly perfect and one of the most special days of our lives, and we were so ecstatic to be engaged and to call eachother “fiancé”. As if that wasn’t a big enough surprise, he then surprised me that night with tickets to see my all time favorite broadway show “The Lion King” which had been on my bucket list for years. The proposal and the trip were truly something out of a dream, and we wished it would have lasted forever. Two years later, we are so excited to soon be husband and wife and are so happy to have you celebrating this special time in our lives with us. See you on September 3rd!