We met at a mutual friend's birthday party in March 2018...at Laser Quest, playing all-night laser tag. We said all of two words to each other, enough to become Facebook friends. We didn't talk much until ~10 months later, when Mikey persistently contacted Karrin via direct messaging. After several months of getting to know each other over direct messaging, the time came for the next annual all-night laser tag event. We spent the night shooting lasers at each other and flirtatiously claiming to have better aim than the other. Mikey asked Karrin out to "dinner, or for coffee, or whatever you want" at the top of a laser tag tower they were defending together. They successfully defended their fortress, and had the best first date ever the following week! The rest is history :)

Mikey proposed to Karrin on December 18th, 2021. We had planned to have a date night, and it was Mikey's turn to plan the whole thing (Karrin didn't suspect anything because we often take turns planning dates/having date ideas). Mikey took Karrin to Water's Table, a lovely water-side restaurant in Renton, and then out for a "special surprise." Karrin was excited to learn that the special surprise was a glorious display of Christmas lights at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park. She was so excited to look at the display of lights, and was even more excited to go up to the Gazebo tower to get a better view of the water. She was so preoccupied by the lights, she was stunned when Mikey got down on one knee at the top of the tower and asked her to be his forever. That was an EXTRA special surprise!! After she said yes, Kyrsten (Karrin's sister), Tanner (Kyrsten's now-husband), and Gabe (Mikey's friend/our best man) came out from hiding to help us celebrate and to take pictures with/of us. We all met up with Shane and Tina (Karrin's parents) at Olive Garden to have Italian donuts and a glass of wine to toast our engagement. It was truly a night to remember! Fun fact about us: Mikey's middle name is Leon (an Italian name). Karrin's middle name is Noel (a Christmas name). And Leon and Noel are anadromes; one spelled forwards is the same as the other spelled backwards!! So it is only appropriate, in keeping with our names and with our Italian restaurant/Christmas lights engagement celebration, to celebrate our December 3rd wedding at an Italian restaurant among the Christmas lights! :)