Our story technically begins all the way back in a Spanish class at Nevada Union High School in 2012 where we first met. Many years later, in August 2022, we reconnected on Hinge (a dating app) where we started talking and instantly, there was a spark. We met up for our first date in Santa Cruz, where Kevin was living at the time, on September 4th, 2022. On the date, we picked up a pizza from Pizza My Heart and brought it to a nice beach where we talked, ate, and watched the sun slowly set. After that we went to Kevin's favorite ice cream shop, Marianne's, and ate it while walking along West Cliff Drive which has a beautiful view at night of the boardwalk across the water. After that day, we both knew that we had found our person and spent the next year and a half before our engagement enjoying time with each other and making many great memories. We can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together and are so excited to celebrate our wedding day with our favorite people!

After a few months of Kevin dropping not-so-subtle hints, Melissa knew it was coming and really thought she'd be able to figure out the plan before it happened. Kevin, however, had a few tricks up his sleeve that actually managed to catch her by surprise in the end! With the help of Melissa's mom, Maureen, inviting the couple up to Grass Valley for dinner one Saturday night, Kevin added on an inconspicuous pit stop. He told Melissa that they needed to stop by Empire Mine State Park to pick up some things for his dad (not an uncommon occurrence, so it went unquestioned). When they stopped there and walked through the visitor's center, the ranger inside quickly handed Kevin a key and told us where we would find what he needed. Little did Melissa know, that ranger as well as the other park aides present were in the loop with the whole plan, but they played their parts so well that she was still completely unsuspecting. They, then, walked up to the beautiful cottage and Kevin unlocked the door for them to go inside. Upon entering, there were candles set up on the stairs in front of them leading to a gorgeous bouquet of blue and white flowers (Thank you to Kevin's parents, Don and Lauren, for setting that up earlier in the day). Although you might think that at this point Melissa would know, it all still went right over her head. It wasn't until Kevin pulled the ring box out from behind one of the candles and got down on one knee that it finally hit her what was happening and she was so shocked she barely remembers what was said after that. Obviously the question was answered with a "yes" and ended up being the perfect proposal that went off without a hitch!