Kristina and Paolo met in college through mutual friends. Kristina was invited by one of her friends to attend the UH volleyball game. The first thing Paolo noticed was how beautiful she was. After a little while, Kristina and Paolo started hanging out everyday. Fast forward to many laughs, stories exchanged, and a few dates. Paolo immediately taken by Kristina, her smile, and genuine heart. Paolo took Kristina on a date at Cheesecake Factory where he asked her to be his girlfriend.

Paulo is the worst at surprises, but I find it is part of his endearing qualities. He usually gets too excited and he starts dropping hints on accident. Paulo planned a trip to San Francisco as a late college graduation gift. I've never been to San Francisco, so it was sweet of him to take me some place I've never been to before. Days prior to the trip Paulo kept asking me "What are you going to where on the Saturday when we get there?" and "make sure you wear something nice on that day!" [hint #1] As Albert drops us off to the Honolulu airport, he asks "So what.. Jerome missed his flight?" and Paulo responds "I already paid for his flight to get there, I'm not covering his change flight fee" [hint #2] We arrived in San Francisco, CA on November 17. On November 18, 2017, the day of the proposal, Paulo kept rushing me to get ready and was constantly texting on the phone (with Jerome). We took a Lyft to the Palace of Fine Art, and as soon as we got out of the Lyft Paulo says "Look, its Jerome! What's he doing here?" (smooth Mr. Clemente, very smooth) Mind you, Jerome is at a far distance and I didn't even see him until Paulo pointed him out. We head towards his brother. Jerome already had a huge smile on his face because he knew what was about to go down. When we reached Jerome, the two boys walk in front of me and Jerome began a series of "Paulo, you want to do it here?" and "What about here, the background and lighting is good." Paulo inspects an area and says "yeah, yeah, yeah.. this looks good, let's do it here." Paulo proceeds to place me in a spot and right when I finally think it's about to happen, Paulo looks to the ground and says "Sh**, the grass is wet. My pants will get wet!" But, finally he sucked it up, got on one knee and made me his fiancé!

We couldn't have made it to this place in our lives if it weren't for those who have loved and supported us through the years. Thank you! Cheers to this new beginning as husband and wife.