Long story short, Caroline was invited by her friend (also named Caroline) to spend the 4th of July, 2018 on Lake Winnipesaukee. They were set to go out sailing on some guy's boat. Bride Caroline OBVIOUSLY said yes, because: well, it was a boat. She arrived to find that this guy was kind of irresistible... After that weekend, Connor called Caroline to hang out again. He spent the next three months flying up from his military base in NC to visit the Northeast and see her on weekends. During Hurricane Florence, Connor stayed with Caroline for a few weeks while his base was flooded, and during that time they fell in love (aww!). Shortly after, Connor was abruptly deployed to Italy for six months, but against all odds, they decided to try to made it work. And it DID!

Shortly after Caroline moved in with Connor, they were snuggling on the couch (again... aww!) when Connor told Caroline to close her eyes. He slipped a stunning ring on her finger. Before he could say anything, she shouted "is that real!?" (it was!). Her answer was obviously, "yes," and the decision couldn't have been easier. The only issue... the band was a little too small. But, that didn't stop Caroline from forcing it on her finger anyway. After a bottle of champagne and a salty dinner... inevitably, her fingers swelled. The ring was stuck, and yanking on it only made the swelling worse. In the end, they drove to the ER and the doctors spent about 45 minutes compressing, icing, referencing Youtube videos, and tugging to get it off. Fortunately, the ring is fine, but it took a month for the swelling to go down so Caroline could get it resized. She still has a little scar on her finger. Every scar has a story, and this is a damn good one.