“We met through mutual friends.” “We met through young adult group.” “We met in a bar.” Depending on who you ask, who’s asking, and when, you may get a variety of answers to the question of how we met. So here’s the whole story. We went to the same young adult group so we knew of each other, had been in the same room but had never actually met. December 16th, Elena decided she wanted to go dancing. She found live music at a speak easy bar, invited some friends and told them to get a group together. Her friend Eric was invited (best man) and he brought his roommate who happened to be a tall ginger man named Ryan. Elena was impressed by the confidence with which he executed his dorky dance moves. At the end of the night, Ryan lent Elena his brand new fluffy quarter zip because she wasn’t prepared for the cold (classic if you know her). And thus it began.
Best man Eric Garzon decided that Elena and Ryan needed to get together. Because Ryan and Eric did everything together while they were roommates, it wasn’t hard for Eric to just invite Elena to things and see what happened. From open mic nights to dancing, Elena began hanging out more and more with the men of Apartment 414. One Friday night (February 10th to be exact) Elena was finally able to go salsa dancing (Eric had been inviting her for weeks). Two tall awkward white people in a room of Latinos = automatic pair. We danced together all night and by the end we were both pretty smitten. Karaoke the next night and a Super Bowl party the night after that cemented the attraction. At the end of the weekend Ryan asked Elena out, she enthusiastically agreed, and he promptly left the country for several weeks. Three weeks later we finally went out on our first date - a coffee date that turned into a three hour hang out. Many dates were to follow :)
Saturday, May 13th, Ryan comes over to Elena's house in the morning to help clean her kitchen so that they could go to the beach with his godson later that day. Elena figured that meant Ryan loved her because there could be no other sane reason to clean someone else's kitchen. After the beach trip, Ryan brought a disheveled and sand covered Elena back to her house but before he let her get out of the car, he declared his love. Elena has a little bit of amnesia in regards to her response due to the excitement of the moment, but Ryan has since informed her that it was, and I quote, "I love you so damn much." Ryan tried to kiss her in response but Elena was grinning uncontrollably and couldn't really stop long enough to kiss him back.
Just a couple of weeks after the first "I love you," Elena went to Destin with Ryan's family. It was there that Elena and Ryan discovered the magical drink called the Tops'l Punch (named after the resort it is made at, the drink consists of rum, vodka, tequila, amaretto, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice...any confusion on why we like it?). After a poolside lunch that may have included two Tops'l Punches each, Ryan and Elena headed out to the beach to lounge off the effects of the beverages. Overcome with joy, Ryan looks Elena in the eyes and says, "I can't wait to wife you!" To which Elena replied, "Well, good thing I'm only contractually obliged to be single until next summer [because of her graduate service program]." Ryan told Elena he hoped she wouldn't make him wait a second longer...so here we are, getting married the first possible weekend after Elena's internship ends.
Through a very extensive series of sneaky deceptions, Ryan managed to surprise Elena completely when the time actually came to pop the question. It was a weekend we weren't supposed to see each other (we went long distance right after the "can't wait to wife you" episode) and Elena had unknowingly wandered St. Augustine while Ryan boarded a plane to Florida. A couple weeks before, Elena's friend Allison (in cahoots with Ryan) had invited her out to drinks that night for an early birthday celebration. Allison casually took Elena to the bar where Elena and Ryan had met (and Allison deserves an Oscar or Emmy—whatever your preference—for her acting skills as Elena spent most of the time complaining about how she didn't know when she was going to get engaged), and when they left the bar (17 minutes late according to Ryan), Ryan was waiting outside. Ryan walked Elena through San Marco like they had done so many times before, led her down a beautiful double row of live oaks, showed her a photo book he had made of their time together, then dropped down on one knee momentarily before Elena said yes and pulled him up for a hug. After way too long of a wait, we both get to say "I do" on June 15!