Would you believe that our story arguably started almost 15 years ago!? In 8th grade, Alex had a major crush on Matthew. So much of a crush that while on the 8th grade DC/New York trip, she ditched her mom at the top of the Empire State Building just to ride in the elevator with Matthew and their friends. The kicker – we didn’t even talk. Fast forward to freshman year of high school, and our lockers were right next to each other. Alex mustered up the courage a few times to make small talk, but we mostly avoided eye contact and kept things brief. It wasn’t until junior year that we finally had a class together and things started to get “serious”. We dated for a whopping 1 week and realized we were both too awkward and couldn’t connect. Over the next few years as we graduated and went off to college, we sort of stayed in touch with random snapchats and a few froyo dates over the summers. After graduating college in 2019, Matthew and Alex found themselves back in Martinez and starting our first jobs. On one fateful night in November 2019, everything changed. Alex was at a dive bar in Martinez (Nu-rays) with her whole family to see their favorite band, Groovy Judy, when she ran into Matthew’s mom. After getting the scoop from her mom the next day that Matthew was back in town, she proceeded to take one whole month to text him. Thankfully we weren’t as awkward anymore, and fast forward a few months and a few dates later, Matthew popped the first important question - “will you be my girlfriend?” Since then, we endured the craziness of COVID together, moved to San Diego and enjoyed many trips to the beach, travelled, started new jobs, adopted a puppy, moved back to the Bay Area, and have grown more and more in love with each other through it all. Matthew popped the second important question – “will you marry me?” – at the beach by our last apartment in Carlsbad and Alex said the fastest “yes” she’s ever said <3 We are so excited to celebrate the start of our marriage and the next chapter of our lives with all of the people we love this fall!