Michelle and Johnny met how so many couples do nowadays - on the dating app Bumble. This app was unique in that the woman had to initiate the conversation for it to begin. One of the icebreaker questions on Bumble was "If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?" Johnny visited his sister Gracie in college three times in five months earlier that year in her last semester at Loyola New Orleans. He quickly fell in love with the city, so he answered that question with New Orleans. Michelle found herself very curious about this California boy who said that the place he wanted to be most in the world was her hometown. So she reached out, and it's all history from there. They clicked quickly, and a few months after first talking, they went on their first date in February of 2020. The pandemic (and other life changing events) quickly followed, and Michelle and Johnny were able to bond over being in each others' bubbles, and having Michelle spend time with the Palmers in their bubble in Concord.

Johnny had been planning the proposal for quite a while, but there were too many good ideas of how to actually pull it off. One of the things Michelle and Johnny most have in common is their love for books, so that was a no-brainer. Johnny decided that he was going to cut a small box into a copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, in a chapter called "The Unbreakable Vow", and tie a ribbon with the ring on it inside of the book itself. As with many things, the idea was easier than the actual execution, but he eventually got it to look pretty good. Now the trick was to actually get Michelle where he needed her to be without raising too many eyebrows. He contacted Michelle's personal trainer to make sure that he would make up a reason to cancel their regularly-scheduled Saturday training session. Now Johnny just had to figure out how to get Michelle to get her nails done (one of her biggest requests before a proposal!) without completely giving away the plan. The morning of the big day, Johnny woke Michelle up and said he made her a Mani-Pedi appointment for that day, and that she better get dressed and ready. Michelle, of course, was immediately skeptical, asking "Why? Why? Why? I KNEW you canceled my appointment!" Johnny refused to answer any of her questions, so he dropped her off at her Mani-Pedi appointment and hustled back to finish the rest of the plan. He picked up a bouquet of flowers for after the proposal (hoping everything went well!), and the special copy of the Harry Potter book. Soon, Michelle was done at her appointment, so Johnny packed Marnie (his service dog) and the book up and went to pick Michelle up, heart pounding the entire time. They went straight to the shopping center where they had their second date at Barnes and Noble. Approaching the Barnes and Noble, Michelle announced that she wanted to go to Paper Source next door (again, no surprise if you know Michelle!). Johnny and Marnie ran back to the car where he had hidden the book, carefully snuck past the Paper Source window, and immediately grabbed a shopping bag to put the book in. Michelle came in to Barnes and Noble soon after, but the specific spot that Johnny planned to propose was frustratingly busy that day! Finally, there was a window. Johnny went to find Michelle and guided her to a corner where her two favorite genres - Romance and Fantasy - met in a private corner. Johnny held out the copy of Harry Potter, asking what Michelle thought about him getting this version. Michelle was confused, because in her words, "Don't we already have five copies of this book?" Johnny opened the cover of the book, which had a bookmark with a quote from one of their favorite stories on one side, and a picture of the two of them on the back. With shaking hands, Johnny turned the page to the next bookmark. At this point, Michelle picked up what was happening, and was in shock. A few bookmarks later, Johnny finally got to the middle of the book where the ring sat, and untied the ring from the ribbon. He got on his knee in this private corner of the Barnes and Noble, among some of their favorite love stories, and started the speech he had in his head. Partway through, Michelle asked that he start over because she blacked out and wanted to remember this for the rest of their lives. Laughing, Johnny tried to start over, but eventually got to the point and asked Michelle to marry him. Thankfully, she said yes!