Mark and his roommates were throwing a party for Fourth of July in downtown Huntington Beach, to which Laura was randomly invited via their shared connection through Beach City Sports. After showing up to the party and mingling with friends for a while, Laura was on her way out just as someone pulled her aside to introduce her to Mark—she decided to stay longer. Just before dark, Mark and Laura ran to the beach hand-in-hand to catch the fireworks show that night. And they've been dating ever since!

Two years later and now living together, Mark and Laura helped plan the annual Fourth of July party at the same house they met, where Mark's old roommates still lived. As everyone prepared to make their way to the Huntington Beach Pier for the fireworks, Laura started getting suspicious when everyone was adamant about sticking together. In years past, we always split as a group and went our seperate ways, since it's such a huge mass of people in the area. Once everyone found their place to sit... together... behind Mark and Laura... and the fireworks started... Mark stood up with Laura and proposed in front of everyone. She said yes (clearly)!