We met in Gainesville, FL when I (Lindsay) and my roommates moved into a house just 238 footsteps away from Nick's house (yes, we counted). My friends and I walked over one day to introduce ourselves to the guys who we were now living across the street from. We knocked, got a "come in!" and went inside to find Nick sitting on the couch with a few other roommates sprinkled about the house. Everyone started introducing themselves and I walked up to Nick and said "We kinda know each other... You're Nick, right?" For those who don't know, Nick and I are from the same town and went to the same high school, but we had never formally met each other! God had a plan for us to meet, it just wasn't until college. From that first conversation in Nick's house, we hit it off immediately and just a few days later we went on our first date to watch the sunset. We sat talking for 6+ hours with neither of us wanting the night to end. That's when we knew!

Nick got me good, not just once but twice, and I'm pretty hard to surprise. The proposal plans truly started weeks before it actually happened. Nick and I wanted to have an end-of-the-summer beach weekend together and ultimately decided that Jacksonville would be the place, mostly based on convenience (or so I thought). He was so sweet to plan out the entire weekend for us and just told me to pack a bag. The plan I knew was that we were watching the sunrise on the beach, going to breakfast, getting some sun on the beach, and then going to dinner before staying the night at a nearby hotel. You would think I would've been onto him, but I totally convinced myself that it wasn't happening this weekend. Well, we arrived at Neptune beach for sunrise early Saturday morning, got cozy on a blanket, and chatted while the sun began to rise. We started talking about how long distance has really been weighing on us both and how we were so ready for it to end. Naturally, Nick used that as the perfect segue to get on one knee and asked me to marry him. I gave him a big "YES" and in my complete shock, I couldn't help but repeatedly blurt out "Are you for real?!" and "Is this real?" Needless to say, we had dreamed about this day for so long and had had so many of life's curveballs thrown our way, that I couldn't believe the day had finally come. It couldn't have been any sweeter - Way to go, babe! The other surprise was that Nick invited our families to join us for dinner, but it was a total surprise to me. At the hostess stand, I was completely oblivious until I looked over to my right and saw our families just waiting for us with loud "Congratulations!" and "Surprise!" shouts. Family means everything to me, and Nick knew that day wouldn't have been complete without them. It was the cherry on top to the most joyous and special day.