Jesse and Melissa's story begins in 2011 in an Irish Literature class at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Due to mutual intimidation, they rarely spoke. A couple of years later, they ran into each other at a party and hit it off. Soon they started dating, bonding over their shared love of old school R&B, Family Guy, and stuffed animals. Though it took them a while to get started, their paths always led back to each other. Now they can't fathom a life without one another.
Fast forward to December 24, 2019, and Jesse is ready to propose! It’s Christmas Eve and everyone is leaving work early to get home to their families. Jesse starts setting the scene at Melissa's condo. He lights over a dozen candles and collects an audience of Melissa’s favorite stuffed animals to be placed outside on the patio. He purchases a custom Build-A-Bear suit for her favorite plushie, Wooley, and places the ring box in his lap. The first movie they watched together begins playing on the TV and Jesse sets a trail of Melissa's remaining plushies leading out to the patio. It's 2 pm and everything is ready to go. The only thing missing is Melissa. In her typical fashion, she takes advantage of her half-day work schedule by staying a little later and running to Hallmark for some last-minute gifts. Three hours later, the candles are burning out, the movie has played three times, and still no Melissa. She finally arrives home, four hours late, and immediately notices something is different. She walks through the condo, sees Jesse outside next to Wooley and slowly realizes what’s going on. He proposes and through a mixture of laughing and tears, she nods and says yes!