Karina and Ian met during the first semester of college in English 101 class at Gonzaga in 2008. Ian thought Karina was smart, fun, cute, and was interested in being more than friends; Karina thought Ian was a really cool friend - #friendzone (one wedding vendor recently referred to Ian as "hope" for all guys who have been friend zoned.) So, they spent the remainder of college sporadically texting each other and writing on each other’s Facebook walls. Following graduation from Gonzaga, Karina returned back to her hometown of Portland to begin working for everyone’s favorite company, Target. Ian took a more unconventional route, living in South Dakota, Miami, Spokane, Washington D.C., and finally returning to Seattle to pursue a teaching career. The extent of Ian and Karina’s relationship was friends on Instagram. They periodically sent each other “fire,” “laughing” or “100” emojis or comments on each other’s Instagram stories. This went on for many years. On a weekend night in February 2020, Ian finally asked Karina if he could visit her the next day in Portland; her ‘yes’ was secretly mixed with skepticism of him being serious, but the next morning Ian arrived at her place in Portland. Twelve years after meeting each other, they went on their first date in PDX. By April 5th, Ian asked Karina to be his girlfriend! Every other weekend for the next year-and-a-half, Karina would travel to Seattle, or Ian would travel to Portland to spend time with each other. In Portland, they enjoyed grabbing drinks with Karina’s friends, visiting tasty food trucks, and spending time with Karina’s family in their beautiful backyard. In Seattle, they enjoyed playing competitive games of Ticket to Ride, walking Posty around Green Lake, and watching sports. After many phone calls, long waits in Tacoma traffic, and too many miles on Ian’s beaten down Toyota Corolla, Karina moved to Seattle in August 2021. They were finally living in the same place, and by November, Ian knew Karina was the one; Karina knew he regularly left peanut butter on the refrigerator handles. They spent the summer of 2022 attending many weddings and going on relaxing vacations: Half Moon Bay (CA), San Pedro (Belize), Lake Chelan (WA), and Austin (TX). Despite all of the fun they had during their travels, their biggest trip would come at the end of the summer, a drive to Portland that they had made too many times to count… On August 20th, 2022, Ian told Karina he was golfing with friends in the Portland area, so Karina planned to go wine tasting with her life-long high school girlfriends at her favorite winery, Hawks View. But when she arrived at the winery and walked outside — Ian was on one knee — ready to ask her to spend the rest of their lives together. Ian and Karina celebrated the engagement surrounded by their friends and family. They agreed that evening, at a dingy karaoke bar, that it was the best day of their lives ... so far.