We're getting married!

Do you believe in magic? An otherworldly essence that makes life sweeter, brighter, or more vibrant? Alex & I are so fortunate to have experienced it firsthand. Alex was entering into Greek life at Montclair State University, she had one night of fun to enjoy before the dreaded sorority pledge process. Once the sorority rituals had concluded, the night began to take off. First the friends arrived, then the friends of friends, then just about everyone was walking in & out of the old college party-house. The music was loud & the room was packed, Alex had decided to grab a drink when a fellow pledge sister announced that it was time for a keg-stand! The crowd cheered & Alex knew she had to take a few pictures. As she stepped back to capture the moment, she accidentally backed into someone. She turned back quickly to see who she had bumped into & as fate would have it, it was me (hello!). We spoke briefly & laughed as we watched the party antics unfold. After a few short moments, we smiled & went our separate ways. The party went late into the night & the crowd began to get thinner. My friends had started walking to the cab & I had gone to grab my coat. I caught one more glance at her from across the room & thought about asking for her number, but decided to just leave & hope to see her again. That’s when it happened, that essence of magic filled the air; an invisible string seemed fastened to the both of us. I paused, staring at the cab outside through the open doorway, but I couldn’t leave. I knew we had to speak again. I approached Alex in a small crowd of her friends, I can still remember exactly how she looked. We locked eyes & the rest of the crowd seemed to vanish into the background. After a few terrible jokes, I said goodnight & walked away with her phone number. Little did I know how much sweeter, brighter, or more vibrant my life was going to be with her in it.

In January 2020, Alex and I were outlining our trips and time off that we intended to take for the year. Ringing in a new decade was such a momentous occasion and we were so excited about what this new year would hold for us. The original plan was to fly to San Francisco in April, tour the city, sample delicious foods, take a trip out to wine country, and just generally enjoy the beauty of the west coast. During that trip we were going to visit the Redwood Forest, stop at a few wineries, and take in the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the iconic Vista Point. It was there that I was going to propose. The city skyline in the distance and the water shimmering at sunset; truly a moment of spectacle and grandeur. Little did we know that all of those plans would be thrown fervently out the window when covid hit and the lockdown was initiated. At this point, I had already purchased the ring, which sat secretly in my bedside table. For two weeks we had both gone to bed every night with the ring sitting in a box in our bedroom. This secret was very difficult to contain. There were multiple points where I wanted to simply skip the pageantry and propose at dinner, in our dining room, in pajamas, but I believed that this moment deserved more, so I opted to very quickly devise a new plan. I enlisted a few close friends to take Alex to get her nails done and show up on short notice to be our cameraman. Our team was secretly toiling away in the background as Alex went about a seemingly normal Monday in March when we convinced her to take a walk in the park. At this point she knew something was going on. I followed close behind and then the moment was ours. In the end, we swapped out the San Francisco skyline and the waters of Golden Gate for the familiar view of our apartment and the lake at Briant Park. Was it what we originally intended? No. Was it a magical moment that will live with both of us for the rest of our lives? Absolutely. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.