07-03-20

On the annual Speelman Florida vacation, Alex had been trying to lure Taylor out of the condo all day to no avail. It was cloudy, humid and had already started to sprinkle outside and Taylor didn't want to go out in it. Finally, getting Taylor to go outside to get in the car to go out to dinner with the whole family, Alex pulled her away from the car door and got down on one knee. He pulled out the vintage ring she had had her heart set on for a long time and asked her to marry him with the Speelman's surrounding them smiling. After a few times of Taylor saying, "Nuh uh" with disbelief and excitement, she finally said yes through some tears and went straight into Alex's arms where he also was tearing up. She asked, "How did you get this ring?" His response, "Wanna know what else I got?". He pointed out toward the parking lot where Taylor's Dad and Stepmom appeared out of no where and almost brought her to her knees in happiness and shock. Taylor and Alex got to mix their family together on a tradition that is normally just the Speelman's and it was truly the beginning of joining two families.

They met online on Plenty of Fish! Alex had been on the app for about 6 months with no luck of finding anyone who seemed to be a good fit with his weirdness. Taylor saw his profile picture of him and his cat Ahri and thought he was totally dreamy and messaged him before she went to bed for the night. Alex woke up the next morning with the intent of giving up and deleting the app for good. However, when he saw the message from Taylor, his heart soared and he had hope again. They met up for the first time at Taylor's favorite place, the mall, and found that they had so much in common and really enjoyed eachothers company. By the end of this first date, Alex did something that none of the other guys Taylor went out on dates with did. He asked her out in person to go on another date. He did't try to play it cool and wait to call, he was excited to get her out on another date and just asked her right then and there. Taylor couldn't believe that this amazing guy was asking her out again. She even double checked and asked him, "Are you sure?". By the third date, and 3 weeks of talking, Taylor and Alex deleted the app together and went on date with only each other. A month later they were officially dating on July 14th, 2016.