In 2016, Carly was finishing up her Senior year at the University of Washington while Zach was working at his first job following graduation from Gonzaga University. By chance, we both ended up at the same local bar in Seattle and two weeks later went on our first date! After two months of dating, Carly left for an internship abroad. Despite our short time knowing each other, we took a leap of faith and decided to stay together and navigate long-distance. Through lots of late-night calls and one visit we made it out of the experience closer than ever and have only continued to grow. We love the outdoors and exploring all the hiking trails in Washington, and cannot wait to celebrate with our friends and family in our favorite setting, the Cascade mountains.

Zach knew after the first year of dating Carly that he would propose in her favorite setting… the mountains. Carly’s favorite mountain has always been Rainier and it was only fitting that Zach would propose in front of “her majesty” as Carly likes to call it. To record their special moment, Keegan Short and Lindsay Ulbrickson joined the trip. Waking up at 4:30am on Saturday, July 31st they set out for Mt. Rainier National Park to hike the Burroughs. During the 7-mile hike, Zach and Keegan walked ahead of Carly and Lindsay to scope out the perfect spot. He decided the ideal location was at the top of 2nd Burroughs looking out towards Mt. Rainier. After they reached the top, Zach asked Keegan and Lindsay to take a photo of Carly and him. While getting ready for the photo Zach knelt down to “adjust his knee brace.” The move was apparently too smooth because the completely unaware Carly jokingly jumped on his back for a funny photo while Zach struggled to hold onto the ring. After asking her to move to the side he showed her the ring and the stunned Carly said yes. Later that day Zach and all of their friends surprised Carly with an engagement party at Optimism Brewery, where they had their first date more than 5 years ago.