We're Getting MarriedWe're Getting Married

Alyssa and I first met in high school. We had mutual friends, loved the same music, and, if I’m being honest, definitely had a teenage crush on each other. One of the first real connections we shared was our love for emo music, especially Let It Enfold You and Still Searching. Alyssa actually discovered Senses Fail thanks to a burned CD slipped into her junior high locker by our dear friend Victor. This was the mid-2000s, when emo and scene culture were in full force. In early 2007, we went on what I like to call our original “first date” to an emo rock show at Saint Andrew’s Hall. Nothing officially happened that night, mostly because I very famously did not make a move. Life carried on, and we slowly drifted apart. We may have been right for each other, but it just wasn’t the right time. Fast forward to December 2020, when we found ourselves back in the same room at a house party with mutual friends. The chemistry was immediate. Thirteen years after our high school missed connection, we were older, more settled, and finally ready to see where things could go. Not long after, we moved into together, and our fur babies, Gus and Cocoa, met and became siblings. Between trips to Hocking Hills and Denver, concerts, job changes, learning how to work from home together, and building memories with friends and family, it became obvious that this was it. She was my person.

I originally planned to propose at the When We Were Young music festival in Las Vegas on October 22, 2022. I had every detail planned out. A photographer was booked, I knew exactly how I was going to sneak the ring past festival security, and I had the perfect moment picked out. Then, about an hour before gates opened, the festival was canceled due to dangerous high winds. I tried everything to make it happen anyway. I even made a Twitter account so I could be among the first to find out if a last-minute pop-up show was announced. We made some unforgettable friends while waiting in line outside a venue during the windstorm for a limited-capacity show later that night, but we didn’t make the cut. The next morning, I proposed in our hotel room with flowers and a heartfelt note. We thought that was the end of the story. But fate had better plans. Not long after, Senses Fail announced a tour, and Detroit was one of the stops. Even better, they were playing at Saint Andrew’s Hall, the same place Alyssa and I had our first date nearly 16 years earlier. I reached out to the band and worked with their videographer and merch manager, Cameron, to plan a redemption proposal. The days leading up to the concert felt surreal. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to do an onstage proposal, but the love and support from friends and family across the country made it feel possible. On November 7th, in front of a packed room of fellow elder emos, close friends, and even my parents, I got down on one knee onstage and asked Alyssa to marry me again. We’ll be saying “I do” in Detroit, the city that witnessed our beginning and our second chance. From our first date to where I finally got the proposal right, it’s only fitting that this is where our forever starts.