Tyler first started attending Northern High School in 2012 for our Sophomore year... but nobody really knew that. In fact, even Amanda did not know that as she walked past Tyler every day to her math class that was literally across the hall from his. On the first day of our junior year, Tyler, with the help of Bridgette (our mutual friend), found his way to the NHS Dance Room during lunch to try and meet some new people... And new people he met. He would eventually learn that this was Amanda and her friends' stomping ground. It was at this table where Tyler and Amanda's stories began intertwining. As homecoming season quickly approached, talks at the lunch table became centered around who was going, and who was taking who. Amanda and her friends made plans to go as a group, while Tyler was adamant and loud about his disinterest in school dances. Tyler was so confused as to why the entire friend group (lead by a certain ringleader...Amanda), was pressuring him to go to homecoming. He finally relented, and stood in line to purchase the FINAL homecoming ticket that was sold for the 2013 NHS Homecoming. Any more hesitation and he would have found himself sitting alone on October 12th, 2013. But instead, he spent the day getting ready for a silly homecoming dance that he wasn't particularly excited about. It took him two hours of watching tutorials on YouTube to figure out how to tie his tie. Tyler was growing increasingly confused because the entire time Amanda was blowing up his phone asking where he was and what his plans were. Well, it turns out she was asking him because the homecoming dance was halfway over and he was still at home trying to tie his tie, running on "Enfinger Time"... something that Amanda and her family would eventually come to be very familiar with. On the car ride to the dance, Tyler's mom asked him if there was any specific girl in the picture tonight or anyone she needed to be worried about. For Tyler, the answer was simple... "Nope." Well, once we (finally) found ourselves together on homecoming night, we were inseparable. There was a magnetic force pulling us towards each other that was inexplicable. As the night began to wind down and the slow songs began to play, Tyler decided that it was time to make the first move. He leaned over into Amanda's ear and meekly whispered "Hey... I know that it's kind of late to ask now, but would you want to go to Homecoming with me?". And Amanda's giggle confirmed everything that we needed to know. And for the remaining 18 minutes of Homecoming, we finally had our situationship decided. Homecoming ended, and Tyler and Amanda were left to ponder a question. Luckily, Tyler's ride was also running on "Enfinger time", so we had plenty of time to figure it out together. While walking around the NHS parking lot, with Amanda's sister frustratedly texting from their car asking "Can we leave now?", Tyler turned to Amanda and asked pretty bluntly.. "Do you wanna give this a shot?" While it may not have been smooth, it made Tyler's intentions clear. And with that answer to the question, our story began.

In Tyler's second internship in California, one of his fellow interns asked him bluntly why he and his girlfriend weren't engaged yet. He went to explain until he realized that he didn't even really buy his answer either. He immediately set off to formulate a plan. Amanda was coming to California in about a month, but first she had a family vacation to Vegas. Tyler knew that he had to speak with Mike (her father) before pulling the trigger, so he began coordinating with Ann-Marie (Amanda's mother) to invite himself onto the family vacation without Amanda knowing. After confirming that he'd have the platform to speak with Mike, he went on to figure out the ring. The ring itself is a long story, and a story for another day, feel free to ask Amanda or Tyler about it. But long story short, Tyler found a local (to California) family-owned jewelry store where the daughter (and owner) was a master gemologist, the brother was a blacksmith, and the father was a master gemsetter. Together, they worked closely with Tyler to help custom design Amanda the ring of her dreams. It came time for Tyler to surprise Amanda on her family vacation in Vegas. Amanda was pleasantly surprised and excited to share the weekend's events with Tyler. She had no idea about Tyler and Ann-Marie's scheme to find Tyler some time to chat with Mike. Eventually, Tyler was able to (strategically) find Mike alone at the slot machines, where he waited patiently for Mike to go on a winning streak. With Mike's good mood flowing, the conversation went smoothly and Tyler had checked off another one of his boxes. With the ring purchased, and the father's permission acquired, the final steps were to find the proper setting, and execute the plan. Thankfully, Tyler's internship was less than 2 hours from Napa Valley, California, one of the most renowned and beautiful areas in the world. It was not difficult to convince Amanda to spend a weekend in Napa, touring vineyards and tasting wine. At the second Vineyard of the day, Sterling Vineyards, there was a patio overlooking the valley and Tyler readied himself because he knew that this is the destination that he had planned. After some shenaniganry with another family interrupting Tyler's proposal plans (ask Tyler or Amanda to hear about this), finally the long-awaited question was popped. It was movie-like as the entire patio turned and clapped and cheered for their display of love. A waiter rushed over and gave them each a glass of sparkling rosè, which you can see them enjoying together in the photos headlining this website.