Chicago boy meets Colorado girl in California! It was July 12th, of 2019. The Boot Camp graduation day for Billy (bride's brother) and Marco. They spent 3 long grueling months together at boot camp at MCRD in San Diego and that was the day they had all been waiting for. Oorah! The night before graduation, Marco had seen Amber during the "family day" activities and inquired about her that night when the boys returned to the barracks. After the graduation ceremony Billy informed Amber that there was a marine who wanted her number. After some time of trying to get Amber and Marco to meet, Billy was finally able to introduce them. What followed was the most awkward two minute introduction ever...and long story short, Marco never asked Amber for her number. A few days passed by and Marco found Amber on Instagram and then a day after that he slid into her DMs with a smooth "Hey". Amber did not want to talk to him on instagram since he really didn't talk to her much in person (he was scared) but we'll cut him some slack; he hadn't seen one single girl for 3 whole months! Her family encouraged her to talk to him though, and Billy put in a good word for him which said a lot to Amber...Billy is a protective brother and wouldn't let just anyone talk to his sisters! Amber stubbornly replied and after a few more days of messaging on Instagram Marco finally asked Amber for her number and they haven't stopped talking since. They facetimed, and texted for 6 months until they were able to finally meet up in Chicago for the first time in person, for New Years where they then took a road trip from Chicago all the way to California. It was a trip that was either going to make them or break them ( I think it's obvious the trip was a success). It was the trip they both said "I love You" for the first time. It was the trip they had their first kiss (on New Years Eve, aw) and who knew that exactly one year later they would be back in Chicago to take their engagement pictures!

By August 20th, Amber and Marco will have spent just over 2 years long distance, Marco being stationed in 29 Palms, California and Amber living in Colorado Springs, CO. There's about 1,000 miles between them! Though that is a lot of miles they both knew that it could be worse and were thankful for face-time, only a 1 hr. time difference and only a 2 hr. plane ride away. They were able to take advantage and visit each other fairly often and the few hours they got to spend together were worth the thousands of hours they spent apart. They face-timed every day and often fell asleep on the phone talking to each other. They did what they could to fight through the distance. Some might say "out of sight, out of mind" but in their case the distance definitely made their hearts grow fonder. Distance is a test of true love, loyalty, trust, patience, communication and so much more. You wouldn't go through all of that being so far away from each other if you didn't truly love one another. All the lonely nights, all the tears cried, all the heart-wrenching goodbyes, were all worth it in the end because they love each other and they now get to spend the rest of their lives together. They will no longer have to say goodbye.

Marco went to visit Amber for the week of Thanksgiving. Amber wanted to take Marco somewhere to experience Colorado. Amber loves the mountains and they made plans to drive up Pikes Peak on Saturday, November 28th. On Black Friday, Amber wore Marco out with shopping all morning but she still had more stores to hit! So she left Marco. Unbeknownst to her, as soon as she stepped out, Marco snapped into action, ran down the stairs with the ring and started telling her mom and sisters his plan. Once they made plans for Pikes Peak he knew that was the perfect opportunity. Saturday morning came around and Amber woke up feeling sick. She told her mom it probably wasn't a good idea to go but she still wanted to because she wanted to take Marco. Her mom made her tea and encouraged her to still go up "for Marco". Amber's two sisters went up with them and they were Marco's wing women. They made lots of stops, took tons of pictures, and made it up to 13,000 out of 14,000 ft. Now, if you're from Colorado you know that going up a fourteener in November is risky but it was the most beautiful day. The sun was shining, the wind was not blowing, it was not even cold. It was perfect. At that point though, Amber’s sisters were starting to wonder if he was actually going to do it or not. Marco seemed nervous and Amber could tell. Amber was clueless though and thought that he was just nervous to drive down a mountain (he's from Chicago), but hello, he drives military vehicles over crazy terrain for a living. On the way down they pulled over at a stop they didn’t go to on the way up. Marco gave the sisters the que! The view was breathtaking! Marco nudged Amber forward so she would walk up to her sister to hand her the phone for pictures. Amber thought that was weird but ignored it. When she turned around, he was on one knee with the ring. Amber’s response was “are you serious” to which he replied, “ yes, will you marry me?” then of course Amber said "YES"!