Believe it or not, this story started way back in the early aughts. Patrick and Auburn grew up less than a mile from each other in Matthews, NC. Their houses both backing up to Fourmile Creek. While Auburn was sunbathing on the roof, practicing her cheerleading on the trampoline, or being the basic 2000s Abercrombie girl… Patrick could be heard playing paint ball in the woods, dirt biking, and skateboarding through his neighborhood streets. Some would say they were polar opposites. This might be the reason their paths never crossed in the four years they spent together at Providence High School, both graduating in 2007. You didn’t see a lot of popped collars, pearls, and Ugg’s at Patrick’s heavy metal concerts…

They met at Sugar Creek Brewery followed by drinks at Yancey. According to her, he barely talked the whole time. According to him, he talked nonstop. The date lasted a few hours, followed by a walk back to her car and a side hug. She thought he was nice, but way too quiet. They planned a date for tacos that following Tuesday, but she never heard from him so she got her pajamas on and was in for the night. Then she got a text at 730pm asking when she wanted to meet. Auburn doesn’t know how to say no, so she met Patrick up in Ballantyne for some Mexican. He finally talked, and talked a lot. They sat on a bench and ended up talking until 2am. The rest is history…

Patrick and Auburn got engaged in Modena, Italy, the city of balsamic. Everyone said he was going to propose, but, she was SURE he wasn’t. No way was Patrick bringing a diamond halfway around the world. Sure enough, that morning Auburn was in a terrible mood. The worst mood. Everyone in the group was not going along with the plans she made for the day. Later in the day, after a car nap and some food, Auburn was in a much better mood. They went and toured the oldest balsamic distillery, Giuseppe Giusti. After the tour, Patrick said he was going to look at grapes in the vineyard. Auburn said, okay, and went to the car. A few minutes later he came back and said, no, you come with. That’s where he popped the question, and she obviously said yes. (That’s why we’re all here, duh)