It was the end of Gianna's sophomore year of high school where she was actually talking to one of Andres friends at the time who went to South Elgin with her. (Were going to call him John for this story LOL) There was one weekend she planned to go bowling with a few of her friends and John mentioned he wanted to meet up with a few of his friends from Bartlett High School which was our rivalry high school. We all meet and add each other on Instagram and snapchat, typical 16-year-old behavior and wrap up for the night. Some time passes and Gianna ends up messaging Andre to get some advice about John and what she should do since they were good friends. Long story short Gianna ends it with John after a few weeks, but she continues to talk with Andre just as friends. July 2016; Gianna and Andre see each other at the Bartlett fest for the first time since chatting over snapchat. They hangout through the night and Andre ends up expressing he has feelings for Gianna. She lets him know she just wants to be friends because she didn't want a relationship but to sum it up, Andre keeps pursuing for weeks and Gianna can't help but start to have feelings. They end up planning to see each other more and nightly face time calls began. They both really start to like each other and want things to progress. It was October 2016, and Andre asks Gianna to be his girlfriend right before Bartletts Homecoming and they start to introduce each other to their friends. As dating went on, Gianna enjoyed going to Andre's soccer games and Andre went to all of Gianna's cheer competitions. A few years of dating pass and Gianna was going to be going to University of Tampa and Andre was at Illinois State, this was pretty much the ultimate test for them. Andre traveled back and forth to Florida visiting Gianna during these long-distance times. They drove 17 long hours (Andre drove) taking her car during summer breaks, and over holidays. Long distance was hard, and they had to learn to communicate better, but they knew it would all be worth it in the end. Andre even surprised Gianna for her 21st birthday in Florida where they spent the weekend together. August 2022 was approaching and this meant college graduation for Gianna and long distance was coming to an end. They both knew once they got through long distance, and returning home to each other, it was going to be a forever type of love. It was the end of 2022 at this point, and they spent the last 6 years becoming best friends and falling more in love with each other every day. They knew they couldn't live without one another and started to talk about a future together and what that looked like for them. They both started their full-time jobs where Andre actually works for Gianna's dad's competitor and Gianna works for an insurance broker. 2024 comes around and at this point Gianna is super annoying and pretty much bothers Andre about proposing every day LOL. He lets her know that it will happen soon but ultimately wants to surprise her. They go ring shopping throughout the year just to browse and Andre ends up buying her ring in July 2024. While Gianna was away on a work trip in Philadelphia, Andre plans her dream proposal with her best friends Nicole and Erica and also meets up with Gianna's dad to ask for his blessing. October 2024 rolls around and its proposal time! They were celebrating their anniversary on Friday night in the city which had Gianna skeptical, but Andre wanted to throw her off, so he planned to do it the next day at the same park where they had taken prom pictures back in high school. Nicole and Erica planned to do dinner the three of them where they ultimately lured Gianna to the proposal spot. Gianna says YES! Although our story is long, it is hard to put into words the love we have gotten to share over the last 9 years. We have had the privileged to grow up together and absolutely cannot wait to become husband and wife!