Kaitlin was in her senior year at UMBC out on a autumn Thursday night in Arbutus seeking a date to Phi Kappa Sigma’s “Fifth and Cuffs” party the next week. Andres had just transferred to UMBC the previous semester, and it was on this night where these two were at the right place and the right time for magic to happen. Kaitin saw Andres across from the kitchen, and she approached the handsome man who caught her eye to ask him if he had a date to the party already. One fun night of a lot of talking, dancing, and laughing led to many, many more. Within a year she had moved into his college house “Swamp” with him and the rest was history!

After two semesters of growing together, they took a weekend beach trip with Andres’ fraternity to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. It was on the final morning of the trip when they got up to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean together from the beach gazebo. It was while witnessing this beautiful scene when they told each other “I love you” for the first time. This moment was immortalized by an eagle-eyed friend from a nearby deck, who snapped a photo of the two. This photo is the first image in the "Photos" section.

Kaitlin and Andres will have known each other for almost six years by the time the wedding comes around, and that doesn’t happen without a lot of happy memories together. This includes countless pizza dates, Jordan Peele and Marvel movies, single-handedly keeping Jersey Shore Family Vacation on the air, morning Dunkin' coffee runs before going into UMBC, trips to the Renaissance Festival, as well as discovering together that they were secretly Disney Adults™️. In that time they not only grew the love between them, but also fell in love with each other's families and friends.

A fraternity tradition and something that holds great importance to the couple, Andres lavaliered Kaitlin on her 23rd Birthday in the presence of the brothers of the Phi Kappa Sigma, Delta Sigma Chapter. A lavalier necklace is a symbol of promise, trust, and dedication to your partner and their chapter, functioning in a similar manner to a promise ring.

Andres and Kaitlin were nearing the end of their time in Arbutus when the COVID-19 pandemic began to rear its ugly head. Instead of jumping into a lease with so much uncertainty ahead, they moved to Rockville into Andres’ childhood home. They were able to make the most of quarantine: doing puzzles, weekly karaoke nights with Andres’ dad and uncle, putting hours a day into their Animal Crossing island, as well as countless games of beer pong. They are now comfortable calling Rockville home, and have recently brought home a furry bundle of joy named Binx.

After so many months of not being able to leave the house, Kaitlin and Andres decided they wanted to take a couples trip in between their two birthdays (November 30th and December 19th specifically, two fire signs of course). On their way to a cabin getaway at the aptly named Love, Virgina, Andres spent the entire drive down nervously fidgeting knowing the step the couple was about to take together. It was only minutes after they arrived at the cabin when Andres stumbled over to Kaitlin, who was at the refrigerator putting away mushrooms. He got on one knee and told her “Kaitlin, I love you so much and I want to spend this trip with you being my fiancé. Will you marry me?” They celebrated that night at Bold Rock Cidery down the road watching Elf on a large screen, followed by a nightcap of Rush Hour 1+2 at the cabin.