I’ll start by saying that dating is pretty weird nowadays... Unlike the traditional method of somehow meeting each other in person, Monica and I matched on a dating app! We both feel so incredibly lucky that we found each other this way on that fateful day in late May of 2019. We couldn’t meet up for a date right away because Monica was out of the country visiting family, but we immediately started chatting through messages and I felt like we were really clicking! When she was finally back stateside we planned on meeting up for a dinner date. I wanted to go someplace that I thought she would like, so I suggested a ramen house in Columbia. We had a great first date there but it turns out that we both didn't enjoy the food! It worked out though because she agreed to meet up with me for another date and roughly a month later and after a few more dates, I asked Monica to be my girlfriend on July 1st, 2019. We are beyond excited to continue celebrating that anniversary but now as a married couple!

One day about two months before I actually proposed I remember feeling an overwhelming urge to just take the plunge! We had been together for almost a year and a half and I knew Monica was the one for me so I figured why wait any longer? I wanted to go ahead and lock her down! So I began shopping for a ring and found one I knew she would like but it had to be shipped from Texas. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but we had plans for a trip to Nashville, TN a few days later and I hoped that it would arrive in time for me to propose somewhere in our nation’s “Music City.” Well, that fell through because it did not arrive in time. It all worked out though because just a week later I planned a day trip to our favorite beach in Hilton Head and popped the question there! With the help of my parents, we orchestrated a walk on the beach that ended with me and Monica walking right up to a spot in the sand where I had written “Monica will you marry me?” And here we are! We absolutely cannot wait to be Mr. and Mrs. Pate!