Ross and Emily both attended Coastal Carolina University - Ross graduated in 2016, and Emily started her freshman year in 2017. They just missed each other. Fast forward to 2021. Emily moved to Tampa, Florida. Shortly after, Ross came across her on Instagram and noticed they shared a lot of mutual friends from Coastal, so he followed her. Emily saw the notification and followed him back. A few DMs later, Ross asked Emily to a hockey game in Tampa. At the time, Emily was in the middle of moving from Sarasota to Tampa and had company in town, so the first two times he asked, she was busy. On the third try, Ross got creative. He posted a photo of the JW Marriott pool in downtown Tampa - the same hotel Emily had stayed at just a week earlier with her parents before moving into her new apartment. The catch? Ross wasn’t actually in Tampa. He was still in Virginia. The goal was simple: get Emily to ask, “You’re back in Tampa?” Mission accomplished - she did. Ross asked one last time if she wanted to go to a game that Friday, and Emily agreed. That’s when Ross realized it was Thursday… and he still needed a flight, a hotel, and two tickets to the hockey game - which just happened to be during the Stanley Cup. Ask Ross about the rest of that story at the wedding. It only gets better. It was their first date and both of their first Tampa Bay Lightning games - and clearly, it went well. Four years later, they’re planning a wedding and a lifetime together. Ross eventually moved from Virginia to Tampa full-time, and the rest is history. They are not only best friends, but lifelong partners - grounded in friendship, laughter, and love.