Flash back to 2010 - young, innocent, and sporting much worse hairstyles. Even back then, we were both hopeless romantics. Jess was the new girl in an unfamiliar school, entering midway through the year into an already established social dynamic. On her first day at Bathurst High, the drama class was offered the opportunity to travel to Sydney for a performance of Wicked; musicals are a passion we still share to this day. All we needed to secure a spot on the trip was a gold coin for the bus fare (remember those days?). As the new girl, Jess had no idea this was coming up, and didn’t have any money on her. James was the boy with a little more generosity than sense, who couldn’t turn down the chance to help the damsel in distress. In a fit of high school gallantry, he gave up his lunch money so Jess could buy her spot on the trip. In that moment, the spark was lit, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Anybody who knows us knows that we're both nerds, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that we went about our proposal in the nerdiest way possible. The easy part was agreeing that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. The hard part was planning a proposal that would actually surprise the other person. We both knew the other one already had the engagement rings hidden somewhere in the house and it drove us crazy. Still, we had the same idea of incorporating it into our games night with friends when the other person would be off-guard; and boy, was Jess caught off-guard when James asked the question. It took a good minute for her to realise that it wasn't a part of the game and another minute to give an answer beyond crying and saying 'oh my god'. Luckily James had organised to get the whole thing on video so the legend of the DnD proposal surrounded by our friends that sunny afternoon will live forever.