Although we both went to the University of Central Florida for college and have countless mutual friends, we didn't know each other in college or the first few years after college. Then on a random Saturday I decided to join some of my friends at a local bar in Fort Lauderdale for a fun day of drinking. When I was at the bar, Joey approached a group of us standing together to say hello to a mutual friend and I was introduced to Joey for the very first time. Later, as the day started to turn into night, a bunch of us decided to go hang out a friend's house nearby. While we were at our friend's house, I asked several of my friends if they could drive me to my apartment so that I could walk my dog, Bear. All of my close friends couldn't give me a ride because they either did not have their car or had been drinking, but a friend of a friend volunteered to take me home. I had never spoken to this friend of a friend before so I was a little worried about going alone with this person and I decided to ask Joey if he would come walk Bear with me. Joey agreed to come and we have been inseparable ever since!

On Father's day, I planned a brunch at my parents house for both of our families so that we could all celebrate together, but little did I know Joey had something else in store for the day. The brunch started off as planned with all of our family gathered to celebrate Father's day. After hanging out for a while, we decided to sit in the backyard to enjoy the nice weather. While we were all sitting in the backyard, Joey came and stood in front of me pointing towards the sky behind me. As I turned to look up, I saw a plane flying through the sky pulling a banner that said: "Melissa the <3 of my life will you marry me?" The moment I saw the plane dragging the banner with Joey's proposal I was so happy that I immediately started crying. When I turned back to look at Joey, he was down on one knee with an engagement ring outstretched towards me. At this point, both of us were at a loss for words; neither one of us said a word to each other and we just hugged. WE WERE ENGAGED!! We are so excited to celebrate the beginning of this next chapter in our lives with you.