We first locked eyes through our phones – dating in the 21st century. It was through the app Bumble, so Meghan had to initiate the conversation. Naturally, she made fun of Fred for one of his photos, and naturally, Fred responded well to her humor. After a little conversation, Fred asked to take Meghan to dinner. When the time came to go on the date, Fred wasn’t feeling well. He wanted to cancel, but Sam Starrett, one of the groomsmen, convinced Fred to go anyways. To this day Sam takes credit for us meeting – so you can thank him at the wedding. The rest, as they say, is history.

Over the years we have regularly gone on picnics, and our favorite place to go is by the Charles River in Allston, near Meghan’s old apartment. We have gone so many times, we coined it, ‘our spot’. When we go, we set up a blanket, hang a hammock between the trees, play cards, bring some vino and pack a lunch – the whole sha-bang. So on this day, we went to ‘our spot,’ where Freddy had meticulously planned the proposal. Earlier in the week he showed Bub, the best man, where we usually go in the park. The day of, Bub was incognito and snapped play-by-play photos of the entire proposal. Fred got down on one knee, smiled for a few seconds, and all he could get out was, "Uhhh I had something planned, but I forgot what I was going to say…” And to those romantic words, Meghan said Yes! After a celebratory drink by the water, Fred told Meghan that we needed to go home to FaceTime our parents and sisters. We got back to our apartment, and when we opened up the door, there was music playing, platters of food all around the kitchen, and scattered balloons. Meghan took a step inside very confused, and then everyone jumped out of the living room and yelled "Surprise!!". To this, Meghan backed out of the apartment and started bawling her eyes out. Freddy had this day planned for weeks and was able to have family fly out in time for the surprise. The group of 20+ family and friends celebrated with 2 cases of beer, 2 magnums of champagne, and 15 bottles of wine. After drying her eyes, Meghan came back into the apartment and helped to create that large tally. It was a perfect day filled with love that we will never forget.