Tony and Cheng met for the first time in college at the University of Virginia but their story didn’t begin until the summer of 2019 when they played in (and won!) a sand volleyball league together. They bonded over their love for traveling and sports as well as their passion for animals. When Tony asked Cheng to hangout at SPIN DC (a ping pong bar) and then get dinner afterwards, he thought it was obvious that he was asking her out on a date. Cheng, being the oblivious person she is, didn’t realize it was a date until after! Thankfully, she agreed to an official first/second date and they’ve been together ever since.

After 4 years together, 2 puppies, and over 100 plants, Tony and Cheng decided to take the next step and become fiancés! Before their trip to Zion National Park, Tony had found a great photographer (shout out to @casandrahjensenphotography) and had planned to meet up with her on a sunrise hike to capture the big moment. The hardest part of his plan was getting Cheng to agree to a sunrise hike in the first place. He came up with an elaborate story about how the trail was the most popular in the park and that they had to leave really early in the morning in order to beat the rush. That morning when they reached the top of the hike, there was no one but their photographer there and Tony immediately began to worry that it would become too obvious. Fortunately, Cheng continued her blissful unawareness (still oblivious as ever 4 years later). Their photographer was a great actor and pretended to ask them if she can take pictures of them for her portfolio. She placed Cheng facing away for a “photo” and it was then that Tony got down on one knee…