Augusta, Georgia. Home to the Master's Golf Tournament, Fort Gordon...anddddd really nothing else! We both felt like something was missing from our lives after PCSing to Augusta in 2016. And meeting people after college is actually incredibly difficult! So we asked Bumble for help :) we chatted on the app for a few weeks before our first date to Carolina Ale House...on a Sunday night...where Patty promptly told Joe she was on call and might have to leave for a dental emergency, but also it was the week before mock boards and she could only give him a little bit of time. Talk about setting it up for a quick getaway! But there were no calls, studying can wait, and even though Joe ordered a blueberry beer on accident (he HATES fruit, just in case you didn't know :) ), we instantly clicked and set up a second date before leaving for the night. And the rest is history!

Patty and Joe flew to Michigan in October 2018 for a weekend trip to Traverse City. After missing their flight from Charlotte to Detroit which kicked the trip off to a GREAT start, they finally made it to the beach! Joe (who is definitely not a fan of waking up) suggested an early morning wakeup to see the sunrise over Lake Michigan on Sunday. They went down to the beach just in time to watch the sunrise together, which they weren't even sure was going to happen because it was so cloudy that day! Joe seemed anxious, had his hand in his pocket, and started talking about how wonderful the trip was...and then a horn honked in the parking lot and he said "let's go for a walk!" and Patty figured she misread everything and this wasn't a proposal. They walked 2 miles down the road to Patty's favorite coffee place in the whole wide world...Biggby! They had breakfast and warmed up (did we mention it was 40 degrees and raining?!) and then started to walk back. Joe suggested a stop at a park along the lake shore. They sat on a bench for 10 minutes or so. Just when Joe put his hands in his pockets and started talking about how great the weekend was again...a van full of kids pulled up and jumped out to use the playground, so Joe said "Let's walk back to the hotel!" and Patty once again thought she was getting excited for nothing. When they got back to their hotel, they sat out on the beach again, this time in a secluded area on some rocks. When they were finally alone and Joe was sure no one was looking (he knew Patty wanted something private, just the two of them), he got down on one knee and asked Patty to marry him. It was absolutely perfect, and she immediately said "of course!"