Michael grew up in Northeast Tacoma, a natural athlete who found his passion in water polo at Stadium High School. Alana grew up in Redwood City, California — splashing around in the pool since she was four years old, chasing balls behind her older sister before she ever knew what the game was. When Alana's family moved to Gig Harbor, their worlds quietly overlapped. Two water polo kids at neighboring schools, running the score table at each other's games, always knowing of each other — but never quite connecting. They went off to college on opposite coasts, stayed in each other's orbits on Instagram, and life carried them forward through long relationships, cross-country moves, and near-misses that somehow never stuck. The timing was never quite right. Then came the summer of 2022. Alana was visiting her sisters in Southern California when Michael spotted her beach photo on Instagram and slid into her DMs. One Saturday night in Newport turned into six inseparable days — dancing, laughing, beach volleyball, concerts in the park, and a dinner at The Cliff in Laguna Beach that neither of them would forget. Saying goodbye was hard, but the connection was impossible to ignore. A few weeks and many FaceTime calls later, Michael packed up and moved back to Washington, took her to dinner, and asked her to be his girlfriend. A year and a half later, he brought her back to Laguna Beach for a familiar dinner, walked her down to the beach where it all began, got down on one knee, and asked her to be his wife. She said hell yeah.