Welcome to our journey to marriage

We actually met through Tinder; who would have guessed? We actually met online using the dating app. It was the beginning of December 2018 when we matched and Derek began to message me; soon enough we exchanged other forms of communication and he started to message me daily. We met for the first time on Christmas Eve Eve. He drove over to Florence from Sumter to meet up with me, and we went to go see Aquaman for our first date. We hit if off that night, it went great; and we've been together ever since!

Derek and I were visiting the Columbia Museum of Art one Saturday - mainly to see the Van Gogh exhibit they had. Anyone who knows me, knows that he is my favorite artist, and I couldn't miss this. We went and spent the morning walking down the streets of Columbia for the Soda City Market, and then visited the exhibit. Derek recalls that he "didn't think this was going to work because it was so quiet!" But there was a perfect opportunity waiting for us as we exited the exhibit. A large rendition of Van Gogh's "Bulb Fields" was plastered on the walls for photo ops. We took advantage of it - and as I was going back to get my phone from the nice man who was kind enough to take our picture - I could then hear Derek saying "no, keep taking them." I had no clue what was happening. As I turned back to see Derek - he had gotten down on one knee and was asking me the question.. "Will you marry me?" and of course I was crying, and through my tears and laughter I said "yes". This was a proposal thought out specifically for me, by Derek. He knew it would be special for me, and to me in the future. He incorporated my love of art into such a beautiful event and I will never forget that moment and day. It was absolutely just right. ❤️