We're getting married!

As most of you know, we met during a country line dancing class while in college at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Rachel was studying Interior Design, and Graham was in Mechanical Engineering. We had many mutual friends but somehow never (knowingly) crossed paths until Graham's final semester.

Since we met in Graham's last semester of school, we were signed up for long distance out the gate. After just a couple months of dating, Rachel went off to Italy for a study abroad. In that time, Graham moved to Minnesota to work at Polaris. After a 7 hour time difference for a handful of months, Rachel moved back to New York where the distance continued while she finished her studies. Now we were only about 16 hours apart - yippee. We remained long distance until December of 2024.

Upon graduating, Rachel remained in New York for a summer internship. She then went back to Canada while she figured out how to get a work visa. Soon enough, Rachel got a job and a visa and headed to Minnesota to finally end the stretch of long distance. From there, it was up to Graham to pop the question.

While in Canada visiting Rachel's family, Graham had planned a dinner date. Once parked at the gorge that the restaurant sat upon, Graham "realized" that the reservation was actually for 7:30, not 7:00 like he told Rachel. Good thing there was a waterfall trail that all the restaurant reviews say you absolutely must see. This was not particularly suspicious because Rachel often gets dragged up cliffs and down mystery trails when on dates with Graham. She was just lucky to be wearing sneakers this time around. At the base of the waterfall, Graham tried to distract Rachel so he could pull the ring box from his boot. Once successful, he got down on one knee and the rest is history. Thankfully the ring did not fall into said waterfall. The 7:30 reservation was actually for 8:00 the whole time, which left just enough time to take photos with the photographer Graham had hiding in the bushes to capture it all. The celebratory dinner overlooked the waterfall where the engagement had just taken place. Whether or not Rachel saw it coming is up for debate, but she did iron her dress before they left the house...