Katie: Well, we met at a bar called Charlie O’s, which was one of the two big college bars near the University of Rhode Island. It was Monday September 5th, 2015, and pretty late in the night. At first, I saw a guy named Marc from one of my chemical engineering classes, and then I looked right next to him and there was Sean. Even from across the bar, I could see his gorgeous blue eyes, and I knew I had to go and talk to him. So, feeling emboldened by the pitcher of sangria I’d been sharing with my best friend, Erin that night, I went right over—which is something I would usually never do—and said “Hi, I’m Katie.” We talked about karate (I’m a black belt) and a few other things. By the end of the night, I could see the group Sean came with was getting ready to leave, and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to see him again. But then, just as the place was about to close, he appeared with his iPhone in his hand, and I could see that he already had the “add contact” screen pulled up. (I thought that was the cutest thing.) He asked for my number, and then that was it. Even though he purposefully waited seventy-two hours to text me, we ended up dating, falling in love, and settling down in Rhode Island, where we’ve been ever since. Sean: Honestly, I thought the date was September 7th, 2015. I even made that our wifi password. I was nervous to ask for her number before I left, and as soon as she said sure I tried to keep it cool. Then, of course, I had to wait seventy-two hours to text her.

Sean: I knew that I wanted to propose to Katie around the holidays. She loves Christmas, and she had always told me that she wanted to be able to see her family on the day of the proposal (whenever it happened). Her brothers were both home, and her parents said we should all go down to Main Street Cafe, their favorite bar in the village. It was perfect. Nobody had any idea that I was planning on proposing other than Charlie, her dad. I had asked him around Thanksgiving, and he didn’t say a word to anyone about it—not even Peggy. I still remember walking into the garage with him and saying I had to ask him a question. I was so nervous. I said I love Katie very much, I bought a ring, and I’m thinking about proposing. Right away, he said that Katie seemed very happy and that it was a great idea. It wasn’t until a few hours later that he stopped me and said how happy he was for both of us. Katie: I cannot believe my dad kept that a secret. Sean: I know. So, when everyone was getting ready to leave, I said we were going to go down earlier to do a little shopping. I really wanted it to be a surprise. Before we left, I took the ring and wrapped it in a scarf, then a hat, then a pair of gloves. Then I stuck the whole thing in the front pocket of my jacket. I was so afraid that Katie was going to touch it with her hand while we were walking and figure it out. Katie: But I had no idea. Sean: We walked into this little store called Heartichoke, which had a few bridal things on the shelves. As a joke, I pointed them out and said “maybe in like five years, right?” She laughed and told me the ball was in my court. The whole time, I thought, actually, the ball’s in my pocket. So, I told Katie I wanted to drop the presents we’d just gotten in the car and take a walk out on the dock.

Katie: I still really had no idea at this point. I was a little surprised that Sean wanted to walk down the dock, but I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity for a romantic Christmas decorated dock walk. So, I said yes even though my cousin Kelly had just called to yell at us for taking too long because they had perfect corner seats at the bar. Sean: So, we started walking, and it was like 11 degrees out—even colder out on the water. I felt so bad. A few feet out on the dock, our faces both hurt from the wind. As we walked out, we noticed that the dock was completely empty (unusual during the holiday season) except for a lone fisherman, but by the time we got to the end where the Christmas tree stood, he was gone. I was running through the speech I had been planning to give in my head, hoping I could remember the whole thing. Instead, I looked at Katie, and it all flew out of my mind. Katie: That was when I knew something big was about to happen. He was suddenly so visibly nervous and he shakily said, “you know how much I love you, right?” And before I could even say yes, he was down on one knee and the ring was in his hand, and he asked me to marry him. I was so shocked and just kept saying "is this even real?!" Sean: I said, “is that a yes?” And she said “yes, yes, a million times yes.” Katie: I didn’t even say a word when we walked into the bar to where my family was sitting. I just stuck my hand out and showed them the ring. At first, they thought it was some fake piece of jewelry we bought at one of the stores in town, because no one was expecting this. But my brother Brian noticed what was happening and said “oh my God.” One by one, they all figured it out and congratulated us. It was one of the happiest nights of my life. We called our family friends, the McGowans, to come down, and we celebrated with shots of whiskey and there was even a twelve days of Christmas bar sing along that night. It was so amazing.