We met in Boston in the spring of 2023, during the final semester of my nursing program. Like many modern love stories, ours began on a dating app—neither of us expecting much, but both curious. On our first date at Uni, a cozy sushi spot in Back Bay, something just clicked. We bonded over our similarities - our love for music, our relentless need to see the world - and I made Sam eat the weirdest things on the menu just to make sure he could hang (he could). Our differences felt exciting, and our connection was undeniably instant. That spring and summer, we found ourselves spending more and more time together—soaking up sunny days on Sam’s boat, Hatuna Matata, and dreaming up adventures abroad. I had a trip to Europe planned, and on a whim, we decided to meet up in Spain. We road-tripped along the southern coast, exploring seaside towns and getting wonderfully lost together. Somewhere under that scorching Spanish sun, between the winding coastal roads and rolling hills of olive groves, we realized we were falling in love. When we returned to Boston, Sam took me out to a sandy beach in Scituate and asked me- officially -to be his girlfriend. And so began a long-distance chapter in our fledgling relationship. I had accepted a nursing job in Washington, DC, and we spent the next year flying back and forth every week to see each other, sometimes for only a couple of days at a time. It wasn’t always easy, but we earned a lot of Delta miles that year (!!), and somehow the distance made our relationship grow deeper. The time we spent together became more intentional, more meaningful, and it made one thing clear—we were in it for the long haul. In July of the following year, we took a two-week trip to Sicily. One evening, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, Sam asked me to be his travel buddy for life. I, of course, said yes. I left my job in DC and moved back to Boston, where we started building our life together. We now live in South Boston, just a couple of blocks from the water. The ocean has been a constant in our love story—we fell in love and got engaged by the Mediterranean—and now, we’re returning to where it all began to say I do. We’re getting married in Ibiza, Spain, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the next chapter of our story with all of you!