Brian and Emily met in law school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where they shared a first semester schedule. Brian quickly took notice of Emily and, intent on making a good impression, was always looking for opportunities to spend time with her. A month into the semester, an opportunity finally presented itself: a project that involved pairing up with a classmate and doing an oral argument in front of the class. Brian, whose love language is argument, knew this was his chance. Emily, just hoping to do well on the assignment, didn’t understand why Brian so aggressively tried to pair up with her. When the day of the argument came, love was in the air. Emily presented her case thoughtfully and gracefully, but Brian knew he needed to be better. When it was his turn, Brian rose to the lectern with a fire in his eyes and proceeded to meticulously dismantle Emily’s argument in a tone that would make Benito Mussolini blush. The professor then called a vote to determine who had won: Brian in a landslide. Thinking he had just proven his affection for her, Brian turned to Emily with a smile. Emily, remaining aloof to Brian's "romantic" advances, did not reciprocate. Confused at where he had gone wrong, Brian went back to the drawing board. But a couple months later, Brian built up the courage to ask Emily on a date, and she said “Yes.” The two continued to go on dates until St. Patrick’s Day 2018, after which Brian finally asked Emily to be his girlfriend. Love, and the compelling effect of a well-spoken argument, had prevailed.

Door County, Wisconsin, has always been a favorite destination of Brian and Emily, and in 2022, they scheduled their annual trip for late June. This time, however, Brian had a new idea: “How about a sunset sail? There’s a large, 22-passenger vessel that has a group happy hour we could go to.” Now, while this might seem like an obvious engagement location, Brian and Emily both knew that a public proposal was not Emily's style, so the large group likely to be in attendance on the ship dispelled any suspicion. But little did Emily know, Brian had already begun spinning the webs of an elaborate ruse. When it came time to board the Edith Becker, Captain Kate approached the couple somberly: “Due to weather, the other guests have cancelled. You’re the only ones left, but if you don't mind getting a bit wet, we can still go out.” (You see, Brian had gotten incredibly lucky, because the weather actually was suspect, and rain was in the forecast.) Fortunately, Emily was still interested, so they boarded the vessel, met the crew—one of which was photographer disguised as a “captain in training”—and set sail. Terrified that the ring tucked away in his sock would fall overboard, Brian knew he had to move quickly. Once the ship made it out of the harbor, the sun burst through the cloudy sky, and Brian knew the moment was right. He invited Emily to the front of the ship, nervously stumbled through a heartfelt speech, and then asked Emily the most important question of his life, to which she gave the most important answer of her life: "Yes!"