Kristen and Patrick met the summer after college graduation while working for the Wilmington YMCA summer camp. Kristen had just graduated from UNCW and Patrick had just graduated from ECU. Kristen wanted one last summer in her favorite city while Patrick had decided to move back to Wilmington permanently after being in Greenville, NC for the past few years. They spent the summer co-counseling campers and challenging each other to the ring toss game to see who would have to pay for beers at the bar that night, or as the campers were told "lemonade". They spent that summer laughing and getting to know each other as friends. When summer ended Kristen moved to Greensboro to start her first teaching job while Patrick stayed in Wilmington. They lost touch. Two years later they reconnected via social media when Patrick reached out about her baked spaghetti recipe. The rest is history.

Our favorite "holiday" was upon us, the Lighthouse Beer and Wine Festival. We took Friday off to spend a long weekend in our favorite city with some of our best friends. We woke up bright and early Friday morning to walk the loop and eat lunch on the inner-coastal. After spending the first part of our day on Wrightsville we hit the road to head towards our Airbnb in downtown Wilmington. Soon after our arrival Patrick told me that he forgot to give his mom Murphie's dog food and that we needed to go back to the beach to give it to her. Little did I know that he had planned to propose on the beach with chairs, champagne, and the ocean waves in the background. Clearly I couldn't make it that easy on him. I refused to drive back down to the beach with him, claiming he didn't need my help with the delivery. After some panicked phone calls to my dad and the photographer Patrick changed his plans and proposed on the Riverwalk in front of some of my closest friends! It was absolutely perfect and I was blown away by his thoughtfulness and willingness to change even his biggest plans for me. We popped some champagne and celebrated the night away with our friends and families!