You would never expect to find the love of your life at 19 in an inflatable swimmy pool in the bed of a pickup truck at an agricultural fraternity party, and yet that's just what happened to Kelly one sunny spring morning at the University of Delaware in May of 2013. Introduced by a mutual friend, Kelly and Sean spent the day playing Stump and hanging around in the aforementioned swimmy pool with Kelly's roommate, Beth. Afterwards, Sean asked for Kelly's phone number but forgot to tell her his name wasn't actually Ducky, as he had been initially introduced by his high school nickname, and so she almost didn't respond when someone named Sean texted her later that evening. Luckily she did, and the rest is history!

Unfortunately, Kelly is not known for her punctuality. And in true Kelly fashion, she nearly missed her own proposal when she went to ride her horse that morning and got stuck helping to catch another horse from the farm who had escaped his enclosure and gotten loose on the property. After rushing home, a quick change, and a messy bun to hide her helmet hair, Kelly and Sean were en route to their annual Longwood Gardens Christmas trip, and she suspected absolutely nothing. After arriving just in the nick of time for their tickets, Kelly's purse strap broke in the parking lot, and when they entered the first greenhouse (where Sean had planned to pop the question) the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate the building. Kelly nearly called the entire trip off at that point and wanted to go home, but Sean bought drinks from a nearby cart instead, and after a delay, they finally made it back into the conservatory. Once inside, Sean was insistent on someone taking their picture in front of one of the trees, which is when Kelly should have started to suspect something but somehow remained completely clueless, telling Sean to forget it and that no one would want to touch his phone because of COVID. Instead, a nervous Sean literally threw his phone at a random employee (it actually fell on the ground on his first try) and asked her for a picture, then proceeded to talk while they were trying to pose, confusing Kelly even more. All of a sudden he was down on one knee with a diamond ring, and Kelly was completely flabbergasted, but of course immediately said yes! Everything afterwards was a complete blur, including celebrating with dinner at one of their favorite Wilmington restaurants, Bardea. They got to spend the rest of the evening talking about their past and their future, and the following day pulled off an awesome surprise by showing up to their friends' house for a New Year's Eve party as a newly engaged couple!

We are so excited to celebrate our love with our favorite people in the world!