Our story starts in 2007 when Dean came over to Peyton's house for the first time to hangout, and quickly become best friends with... Peyton's brother, Ward. In a not so surprising turn of events, Peyton quickly developed a crush on Dean (who doesn't have a crush on their older brother's best friend?!), but the 4 year age gap was too big at that stage of life. Throughout the years, Dean and Peyton remained in touch through shared life events and small family get togethers due to the longtime close friendship between their families. Dean was able to attend Peyton's high school graduation party and Peyton was able to attend Dean's graduation from the Naval Academy, both in 2016! In 2021, Peyton's original site for a graduate school internship fell through, and she ended up in Williamsburg, VA, only an hour away from Dean. They went on their first 2 dates, one where Dean took Peyton flying, but the timing was not right yet. After another several months, Dean texted Peyton on Valentine's Day and after a trip to Charleston in May of 2022, the rest is history. We are so thankful and excited to share our story and feel very grateful for the many years of friendship between our families that got us to this point.