The summer before starting at Dartmouth, Mackenzie & Greg both raced for their high school rowing teams at Club Nationals. Greg reached out through a mutual friend and they met in one of the truly romantic places on Earth: the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ. This brief meeting kicked off a four year friendship as coxswains on their respective teams at Dartmouth.

As their time at Dartmouth was coming to a close, Mackenzie & Greg realized parting ways for good was not in the cards. Greg took a graduation trip to South America, during which he spent a little too much time texting Mackenzie instead of admiring the Peruvian alpacas. They started dating shortly after Greg returned from his trip. After two years of late night Bolt Bus trips between Boston and New York, they moved to Miami together in 2018 when Mackenzie began law school at the University of Miami.

First, Greg had a Plan A proposal. Then, a Plan B. After 12 weeks locked in a one-bedroom apartment in Miami, Mackenzie & Greg decided to make the drive to Greg's family's house in Connecticut. But by that time, Greg had a ring in hand and had moved on to a Plan E proposal. They left Miami at 4 pm and drove through the night, weathering tropical storm Cristobal and passing the iconic (especially to members of the Zales family) South of the Border around 2 am. Unbeknownst to Mackenzie, Plan E involved a beautiful sunrise proposal on the banks of the Potomac in Washington, DC. At 5 am though, the GPS unexpectedly rerouted them around DC and Greg began working on Plan F. Thankfully, he had a touching and tear-inducing video prepared, so the eventual driveway proposal was perfect!