Not a lot of people can say they are still with their high school sweetheart. We met in World Geography, freshman year of high school. Over the next four years, there was a lot of flirty back and forth banter. At the end of junior year, we (Allison) decided that if neither of us had prom dates, we would go together. Luckily, by the time prom came around, we were already official! On December 14, 2015, we "decided" to be boyfriend and girlfriend. That's right... you read that correctly... We just decided "hey, should we do this forreal?" And the rest is history!

After 7 years of dating, people were asking about proposals and marriage at basically any chance they got. We had graduated high school together, graduated college together, got real *grown-up* careers, and finally, were ready to take the next step. Allison's POV: We went out on a date that night. When we got to the restaurant, the host told us that our table wasn't ready but that we could wait outside on the patio. As we're walking around on the patio, I (Allison) thought this would be the perfect time to tell Ivan about my wetlands class. What a great educational moment. So here we are, walking up these gorgeous steps, blabbering on about how wetlands are used to control flooding and when I (Allison) turn around, Ivan is on one knee and I scream the first thing that came to mind - "OH FUCK!". My "shocked" face in our engagement photo was not because he was proposing, but because I was nervous that everyone in the restaurant heard me yell the F bomb. He told me he loved me, I said yes, and we took some professional engagement photos (of course my darn fitbit had to make an appearance). Ivan's POV: I ordered the ring 3 months earlier and tried to plan 3 separate proposals, which Allison of course ruined. Finally decided to do it in Houston at a fancy steakhouse and coordinated with the staff on how to do it. The plan was for our hostess to tell us our table wasn't ready yet but we could enjoy our patio while we wait. I told Allie to come with to see the patio which of course was followed by "I'm okay with just waiting here" and a few seconds of back and forth. I was able to convince her to follow me out and as we walked to our spot, she decided now would be a good time to tell me about her grad school project. Once she had her back to me explaining what wetlands were, I got down on one knee and when she turned around, she blurted "oh fuck!" I had a photographer there taking pictures of the entire thing and then the staff brought out champagne for us to celebrate with.