Amanda and Ciaran were just two ordinary people trying to make something of themselves in this crazy world. Amanda was studying biology at Randolph-Macon College and Ciaran was a Corpsman in the US Navy. Dating was almost obsolete due to the pandemic, so like most college aged kids, Amanda and Ciaran were left to try to find a life partner online. Yes you read that right. ONLINE. Crazy right? You may think meeting online does not lead to meaningful relationships, but for them it did. Enough of the third person talk now. I ended up meeting Amanda on Tinder because we both swiped right on each other and I started the conversation by just saying hello. No cheesy pick-up lines (yet), no lies, just hello. We ended up talking for a couple weeks and finally decided to go out on a date in person together. We found a restaurant called Rock Bottom (which I think both of us were pretty close to), and enjoyed dinner together. I had a great time, and I hope Amanda did too. Well, she must have because we are getting married! That night we went back to her apartment and I ended up meeting her two best friends, Cameron and Natalie, and we had a great time hanging out together. We continued to talk and get to know each other, and I'm so glad that I did. She is the light of my life and I would be lost without her. There is no one else that I would rather be marrying or have in my corner for the rest of my life. She makes every day so much better and I can’t imagine my life without her.

After Ciaran and I met, he drove up every weekend from Norfolk to Richmond so that we could spend time together, and it didn’t take long for us to begin talking about the future. We spent lots of time with both of our families and were excited to become a part of each other’s family. I believe my mom was one of the first to know that we were thinking about spending our lives together (surprise, surprise), and she offered my Nana’s beautiful engagement diamond to use in an engagement ring. Unbeknownst to me, after we had been together for almost a year, Ciaran asked my parents to marry me. The Summer after we met, we were invited to spend a beach vacation in Charleston, SC with Ciaran’s family, which we were very excited to attend! Ciaran called me before the trip and asked if I would like to spend an evening to ourselves during the trip, eat at a nice restaurant and walk along the water afterwards at sunset, which made me slightly suspicious that he was planning something bigger. While we were at dinner, a lovely couple arrived and were seated next to us that had just been engaged. The waiter offered them complimentary drinks and dessert, and Ciaran nervously made a joke that we should have gotten engaged before dinner so that we could receive some of those perks- maybe we should have! After dinner, we drove to Riley Waterfront Park in Charleston, and walked together on the pier. Ciaran suggested we take some photos in front of the Pineapple Fountain, so he asked a passing couple to take a few. That’s when Ciaran got down on one knee and proposed with a beautiful ring set with my Nana’s diamond. I was overwhelmed to be getting engaged and couldn’t help but feel that I was sharing the joy and excitement that my Nana felt when she was proposed to by my Gramps. We were both overjoyed to be engaged, so we rushed back to share the news with our families. The day of our engagement is one that I will never forget, and I couldn’t be happier to be marrying my best friend.