We're getting married!

A couple that is friends with both myself and James invited each of us out - we had never met before that night. I was told: "He's single, you're single, we're not trying to set you up or anything like that, it will just be a fun night.” We all had a really fun time, said our goodbyes at the end of the night, and it seemed like that was that. Several weeks later, James reached out to that same friend of mine, to see if she and I wanted to join a volleyball team. We were thrilled to play and began to hang out with James and the rest of the team after game nights. We got to know each other a lot during that time and I was so drawn to James’s fun, caring, genuine personality. We started dating shortly after! When we looked back on that first night we met, James confessed that his friend gave him a very different description of the night. “Oh yeah, I was definitely told they were setting us up.” We, of course, found that so amusing that we were told different stories, that I was clueless, and love how we ultimately still wound up together in the end...!

After an evening hanging out with a few of my coworkers, Janelle and I called it a night. Not wanting the night to end, I walked Janelle to her car at a downtown Erie parking garage. Before saying our goodbyes, I asked her: "Can I do something stupid?" before leaning in for our first kiss. A year and a half later, we "conveniently" parked in that same parking garage. In Janelle's mind, we were heading to dinner with a friend, followed by a family game night at her sister's. In reality, there was no dinner, and family and friends were waiting to celebrate at her sister's home. After delaying in the car to make sure the photographer was ready, fumbling with the parking stub, and throwing my phone to the ground out of nerves, Janelle turned around to see what the holdup was. A moment later, confusion turned to tears, and I barely got out two questions: "Can I ask you something stupid? Will you marry me?"