Our love story began in October 2017, about a year after I moved to Morganton for my first job after graduate school. To my surprise, Collin messaged me on Facebook one evening. We didn’t know each other at all. I responded to him because we had several mutual friends in common, and he was cute. He asked me on a date and we met for the first time on 10.21.17 at a bar in town called Homer’s. From there we bar hopped to Brown Mountain Bottleworks, Wisteria, and Downtown Sports Bar & Lounge. We were exclusive from that night on. Who would’ve known we’d be getting married 3 years later!!! Life is funny and amazing like that. After 10 months of dating, we moved in together. After about 2 1/2 years of dating, we got engaged. I couldn’t imagine a better life partner for me than Collin. He was truly meant for me. Cheers to our next best adventure... married life!!!

Collin asked me to get take-out from Asian Fusion for our Valentine’s date-night-in. He asked if we could dress nice, like we were going to a restaurant. I thought it was sweet that he wanted us to dress up for each other, even though we weren’t going anywhere. I put on the shirt I wore the first night we met. I left to go pick up the food. When I got back, I thought he’d fallen asleep because the house was super dark. When I walked in, all the lights in the house were off, and there were little tea light candles lit all over the living room. He brought me into the living room and told me to close my eyes. When I opened them, he gave me a huge box of chocolates. He told me to close my eyes again. This time when I opened them, he gave me a big stuffed elephant (my favorite animal). I was so surprised that he had planned such a sweet Valentine’s Day for us at home. He told me he had one last surprise for me. I knew what was coming next... flowers! It had to be roses... that was the next logical thing that went with the Valentine’s Day theme. Chocolates, stuffed animal, and roses, right?? Wrong!!! When I opened my eyes this time, he was down on one knee with a GORGEOUS ring in his hand!!! Best Valentine’s Day surprise EVER!!! It’s gonna be hard to top that one next year!