One afternoon, Mandy was watching one of her brother's baseball games, and Matt had just finished up an AP exam that day (naturally). We had a mutual friend, Jon, and he and Matt were walking to a soccer game just a couple yards away. We met up in between fields and that's when we officially met! Matt had seen Mandy in the hallways at high school but had never worked up the courage to say anything. He got Mandy's number from Jon that day, and we started texting. At first it seemed like just a new friendship but quickly turned into something more. We went on our first date, and the rest is history...

Mandy was going out of town to Gatlinburg, TN, for a girls' weekend with some of her closest friends. Matt had already secretly purchased the ring and really wanted to surprise Mandy, which as you can imagine, is a pretty difficult thing to do when you have been with someone for over a decade. So, Matt reached out to Erin (Mandy's Matron of Honor) before they left to see what she thought about him coming and if the other girls might help Matt surprise Mandy with the proposal. While Mandy was out on a mountain roller coaster, Matt drove to Gatlinburg, hid his car, and worked on setting up their cabin with candles, rose pedals, and M&Ms. When Mandy came back, she was surprised when she opened the door to find a pathway of candles and rose pedals leading to Matt. She said YES, and we had a nice celebratory after party thanks to Mandy's friends purchasing decorations and helping set everything up. We shared a special dinner that night, although we were both too nervous and excited to even eat. Afterwards, Mandy returned to the girls for celebratory drinks.