HER STORY: After graduation, I decided to move back to the Tampa Bay area. I was going through a post college life crisis once I realized I did not secure a job before graduation, but that changed when I landed a job in February 2018 at SEDCO. I walked into SEDCO the day after the Eagles claimed the Super Bowl championship title and met my co-worker, Michael. I came in flaunting my Kelly Green blouse to show support for my hometown champions and we obviously talked about the Super Bowl considering Michael lives and breathes football. He was not as pleased with the game outcome considering he hated the Eagles (he now is a die hard Eagles fan and was mad we were not at the NFC championship this year). As the days went on, Michael and I developed a strong friendship and eventually it became clear to me that Michael was interested. I mean c'mon, look at this. He started mentioning to me that he needed a date to one of his best friend's weddings, so I knew what was coming. After many rejections, I finally said yes to a date. Since then, I couldn't imagine my life without him. HIS STORY: At work.

HER STORY: Michael and I were at Alix and Ryan’s wedding and it finally hit me that I was ready to take that next step after we witnessed and celebrated their love. We started talking about it more and more but very casually. One day I was with Lyss and she said she had to go pick up my birthday present. Something in my gut told me she was lying and I started to wonder if she was going ring shopping with Michael, but I blew it off because my birthday was indeed coming up (btw I was right). A few weeks later I received a text from Kaylie saying "CONGRATS I JUST HEARD!!!! So happy for you!” Michael had gone to lunch that day with Connor so I was wondering "Is Kaylie talking about a proposal?” I snapped out of it when she texted me that she meant to text an old coworker. A few days later, Michael told me he was going to take me to Villa Gallace the night before my birthday to celebrate like we do each year. When we woke up June 11th, it was a rainy day outside. It was perfect movie day weather so we laid on the couch all day watching movies. I said I would be happy to celebrate at home since the beach may be wet but Michael said he still wanted to take me out. Michael seemed a bit distracted that night and rarely touched his food but I ignored it. After a LONG dinner (pretty sure Jen hid in the bushes waiting for about an hour to get our pictures) we walked over to watch the sunset. I didn't even notice that we were walking up to a proposal setup. When we were a few feet away, Michael stopped and turned to me and that's when I blacked out and basically had the closest thing I've ever had to a panic attack, I truly almost passed out. It was the most romantic, sweetest and caring proposal. Both of our families were involved and it meant the world to me. I had a MILLION questions. We sat at our blanket for about half an hour then he said we had to go, our family and closest friends were waiting for us back home. We got up and all I could think of was how thankful and blessed I am. HIS STORY: Deciding that I was going to propose was the easiest decision I have ever made. The process after that was the most stressful. Kaitlyn had been giving me helpful "hints" for the past year when she saw a ring, but I still needed help. I had it narrowed down to a few choices and needed Alyssa to come and help put it all together. After getting Alyssa away from Kaitlyn to help make the final decision, I had a ring. Now I had to ask Jim for his blessing. Trying to get him alone without Kaitlyn turned out to be more challenging than I thought. I had to tell him I needed to hide a birthday present for Kaitlyn at his house. He responded, "No problem, I won't be home but feel free to stop by!". This was less than an ideal response. I then had to double down on my lie and say it was furniture and I needed his help to bring it into the house. When I got there, I had to let him know that I had been lying, show him the ring, and ask for his blessing. Luckily, he did not give me too hard of a time! After a few more lies to my mom and sister I was able to get them together, show them the ring, and tell them my plan. My sister started crying immediately as she tends to do about any wedding talk. The next couple weeks were filled with both our families helping me plan the most amazing proposal. When the day finally came of course rain was in the forecast all day. Because of this, we decided to watch a movie. While Kaitlyn fell asleep on the couch, I was wide awake refreshing the weather app on my phone. When it finally started to clear up all I had to do was get her to the restaurant. For what seemed to be the longest dinner ever, I sat there with a ring box digging into my stomach so Kaitlyn wouldn't notice it in my pocket. After a beach walk, a shocked Kaitlyn, and some tears, she said "Yes!" and the best moment of my life was complete. She was going to be my wife!