The short story is - we met on a dating app. The long story is - Coleman was on deployment and pulled into port in Singapore for the week, where I lived. We had both decided to get back on the app that same week and matched shortly after. I did not feel up for a date the night he asked me out, but I confided in my mom and she convinced me to go out, and as I was leaving I said - “finally, a date that can’t end in a relationship!”. We went out for a drink and had a great time (I also met Coleman’s dad, Brian, that night - but that’s a story for the wedding day.) We ended up going on a second later that week and then Coleman was back on the ship and back to Japan where he was stationed and we were in minimal contact. This all happened in April 2019. Fast forward to June 2019, Coleman and I were chatting and came to find out that we would both be in the States at the same time visiting family, him in Utah and I in California. We made jokes about it “not being that far” and “I’ll pay for the flight if you pay for the AirBnB”. That trip ended up happening and was the start of our long distance relationship for the next few years. Another fast forward to October 2022, we both move back to the States to San Diego where we’ve been happily living since. Our love has grown immensely for each other and we’re very excited for September 6th to come around to share that love with everyone.

I would love to say that I single handedly prepared and planned all aspects of the proposal, but honestly, I relied heavily on some amazing women in my life. Starting with my Mother who helped me work with a jeweller to get a beautiful custom ring made. My sister Claire helped to covertly find out what type of ring Madison wanted. Lastly, and probably most importantly was Nia, my Dad’s partner, who was the visionary of this proposal. For Christmas 2023 we did a family trip to Cabo as everyone’s Christmas gift. Madison and I had lived together for a year at this point and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. So I decided that Cabo would be a cool and unique place to propose. The original plan I had was to take Madison on a sunset walk on the beach, have my sister record it and pop the question. (I thought this was perfectly fine in my boy brain). Nia thought it could use a women’s touch and I’m glad she did. She knew it was whale watching season and suggested renting a boat to take us out for “Family Pictures” - the perfect decoy so Madison wouldn’t suspect a thing. With all the planning done, it was time to go. I don’t think I have been this nervous ever. (Especially when we were sitting on the front of the boat with the ring in my pocket, just asking to fall out into the ocean). I then pulled the ring out and asked if she would spend the rest of her life with me, with the beautiful Cabo love arches in the background. We had our own little moment together before reality came back and all the other people in boats around us started clapping and cheering. We both had said previously that we wanted a private proposal but in that moment it was perfect and everything we wanted. We then spent the rest of our time enjoying the sunset and whale watching with the family. The perfect way to spend Christmas Eve.