Please copy the link below into a browser to watch our "Save The Date" video: https://youtu.be/SgPaqdNU9-4 Enjoy - and see you on the 22nd of 11/22!

As 2017 was coming to a close, Mark and Melisa had no idea that a simple exchange on a dating app would have such a profound and life-changing impact on both of their lives. Thanks to a photo Mark posted with his dog, Melisa took him a little more seriously than other people she had chatted with online and asked if he wanted to meet at Starbucks for coffee or hot chocolate. Mark had been planning to go grocery shopping after work, but figured that if the conversation went nowhere, he'd still be able to go buy potato chips and milk. He agreed and they met up, neither one expecting a whole lot from the meeting since they were both pretty much over the whole "dating scene" at this point of their lives. Nearly two hours later, a simple conversation had turned into "Do you want to get some dinner?" and Melisa's first-ever trip to Twin Peaks (it was the only thing besides IHOP that was close by). Over a plate of nachos, the conversation got more serious and they both found themselves having an amazing time. "I was impressed by her honesty and that she laughed at my jokes," Mark remembers. "He was a little weird, but when he told me about making a calendar full of photos of his dog for his family... yeah, it was enough to keep me interested," Melisa said. Coffee turned into dinner... which then turned into a late night showing of JUMANJI! at Alamo Draft House - both of them having a great time and not ready to go home until after the movie ended. Melisa didn't really expect to hear back from Mark (thanks to her experience in online dating) - and was surprised to get a message from him the very next day! "I didn't know if he was a stalker, or just polite... I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt," Melisa admitted. Her choice to keep talking turned into another date that same weekend and from that point on, the relationship started to take off!

Melisa is the kind of person who views a school holiday or a 3-day weekend as a chance to go somewhere and, potentially, add to her collection of magnets that she has up on the walls in the house. Mark is the kind of person who finds out where the family is meeting up for Thanksgiving or Christmas and makes sure he is there. Traveling had always felt like a chore to Mark since he was by himself and had no one to encourage him to go places. Something had to give. Melisa did not want someone in her world who never went anywhere with her – what was the point of creating memories in cool, new places if you weren’t sharing it with the most special person in your life? And while Mark was totally fine with Melisa going new places while he stayed home and took care of Buster (Melisa’s rescue Schnauzer), it was more and more important to Melisa that Mark be with her as she added these memories and experiences to the story of her life. So, Mark started getting more and more use out of the old, hand-me-down suitcases he had in his closet – adding places and events to his travel log like the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival, The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Disney World (for his birthday), and more! "She's the world's greatest travel agent," Mark joked when asked about traveling with his girlfriend. Melisa was happy to have a travel buddy, a partner that would venture out with her (and carry the heavier bags). She had to learn to not fill every single moment of every trip with activities – which was a condition Mark had – but she soon started to appreciate having time to relax and chill on her trips instead of running herself into the ground. Traveling with Melisa became so important to Mark that he changed careers and got into education so they could enjoy summers off together and plan longer, better adventures. But their greatest adventure wouldn’t happen until June 18th of 2021 while visiting Hawaii…

The world was still trying to recover from the impact and chaos that was the COVID-19 Pandemic… but Melisa and Mark had somehow managed to turn that year-plus of time where travel was essentially banned into a better life for themselves. They had sold Melisa’s old home and moved into a new house in San Antonio that was exactly what they wanted. Mark had become a 5th Grade teacher and had a schedule that allowed for the couple to plan future trips while hotel and airlines prices were at historic lows. With everything going so well, Mark was finally in a place where he could ask the question he had been wanting to ask for nearly a year – until the pandemic rocked the world with a wave of fear and uncertainty. So it was then, on June 18h, 2021, on the couple’s long-awaited trip to Hawaii that Mark asked Melisa to marry him. “I didn’t really have a plan…” he admitted. “I just told myself that ‘today is the day’ and had the ring on me while we were out seeing the sights.” Visiting the Honolulu Zoo with Melisa’s brother, Bobby, and niece, Mekayla, Mark waited for the group to stop for some pictures… handed his phone to Bobby in video mode… and walked over to Melisa next to a metal statue of a giraffe. Pretending to tie his shoe, Mark brought out the ring to everyone’s surprise! “I had to ask him if it was a joke because we had talked about pranking everyone back home exactly like that!” Melisa recounted. “I had absolutely no idea it was going to happen!” “No one did… that was my plan,” Mark says with a grin. It was such a good secret that the moment almost didn’t get caught on camera – but luckily Bobby caught the special moment in time on camera so the couple will have it for the rest of their lives!