We're Getting Married!

Our proposal took place on July 14, 2021 at City Hall in Pasadena, CA. The proposal had to include 3 things. The 3 things were her father’s approval, nails done, and the moment captured. Nate had planned out a professional photo shoot to include headshots, Erika with her cap & gown, and couple pictures. The stage was set. Nate was nervous the entire day and Erika had no clue what was about to happen. Erika did not think that Nate was nervous. He seemed so normal talking about what to eat for dinner and where we should walk Calvin that night. Also, the fact that it was a Wednesday threw Erika off since she always thought it would happen on a Saturday. We went through all our scheduled shots and it came down to the end with couple pictures. He knew the exact spot he wanted to ask the question. On the last picture, Nate asked Erika to turn around as he got down on one knee. She remembers him starting with “I know you’ve been wanting this for a long time...” and then after that, she was so in shock that she couldn’t fully hear what he was saying. She just kept thinking “once his lips stop moving, just say Yes!” And the rest is history.

My favorite memory after the day we got engaged, would be our 2019 road trip to Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Nate and I would switch off driving while we listened to podcasts, his music, my music, and ate a lot of chips and Cheez Its. The first night we had to set up our tent in Arizona and didn't realize the ground would be rock hard so Nate and I were jumping on the metal stake, looking for rocks to hit it into the ground, and using anything heavy we could find. While this was happening, a campsite neighbor was watching and eventually offered a mallet that we could use. After the tent was up, Nate and I felt so proud (more proud than we probably should be about setting up a tent). The whole trip was perfect and spending 4 days with just Nate made me fall more in love with him.

My favorite memory with Erika is when we took our first trip to Hawaii in 2018. We rode mopeds around the island, matched shirts at a luau, and enjoyed a lot of spam masubi sitting on the beach. The best part of the trip happened at the luau. The dancers were asking for volunteers to dance on stage in front of hundreds of people. Erika said no, but I was able to get them to grab Erika because one of the dancers remembered me from earlier in the evening. She hated it, and I loved it. It was such a fun night and am really excited that I get to do things like this with her for the rest of my life.