We were both living in Grandview, Ohio at the time and in the same apartment building. I lived in apartment 211 and Marco lived in the apartment right above mine, 311. On a daily basis, I would hear the loudest noises through the floors. One day, I finally decided to go upstairs and figure out who lived there, as the loud noises were becoming more and more often. After a few hard knocks on the door and a few moments later, Marco answered the door. I explained that I live below him and was wondering what the loud noises coming from his apartment were. Well, apparently, he was tenderizing chicken and essentially beating the chicken into a bowl- which was coming all the way through into my apartment. About an hour later, Marco came downstairs and knocked on MY door, giving me his number, saying that if he was ever loud again to shoot him a text. From there, we started meeting up at bars with our friend groups, going out together, and then Marco asked me out on our first date. And the rest is history ;)

As most of you probably already know, Marco and I are already legally married. He got the job offer in Germany only 3.5 months in advance. I thought I would be able to apply for a visa on my own, but with it being the middle of a pandemic, Germany was being very strict with who they were giving out visas to. The partners at his office suggested us getting married before moving to Frankfurt, as it was looking like the easiest option- and probably our only option. We thought it sounded crazy, but 6 weeks before moving we went to the Columbus courthouse and got married. Because everything was happening so fast, there was no time for an actual proposal. In May of 2022, we had plans to go back to Santorini, Greece after visiting back in 2019. It was one of our favorite places we've ever been, and we were so excited to go back again. A few weeks before we left for our trip, I had posted a "throwback" photo of our last time in Santorini. Little did I know, Marco had hired a photographer to reach out to us saying he was working on building his portfolio and would love to take some "couple photos" of us when we come to Greece in a few weeks. We took probably over an hour of photos, shooting in several different amazing locations. The very last location was a bit of a hike to get down to, but worth the amazing view. The sun was starting to set, and we were standing on top of an old white church overlooking the water. The photographer told me to face the sunset as he got a few photos, and when I turned around Marco was on one knee :)