The Beginning: You never know where you’ll meet your soulmate: the grocery store, a dating app, at a bar... for us, that place was a sweaty, loud kickboxing studio in Connecticut. I (Sam) was considering moving on from my part-time job at the Fairfield kickboxing studio, and Chris was technically only supposed to be taking his first class to become a member at the Shelton studio. They were sister studios that shared some staff (that's an important part of the story!). But, thanks to what can only be fate, instead of offering him a membership, they offered him a job! A week later, he walked into the Fairfield studio, and I was assigned to train the new hire. Little did I know, I was training my future husband. After that initial training day, Chris went back to start teaching at the Shelton studio, and we didn’t see each other again for a few weeks. However, eventually the studio needs changed, and Chris was back to working with me in Fairfield. We got along great as coworkers, teaching classes and becoming fast friends…but the real magic happened on Grease Theme Night. We were both teaching, so obviously we dressed up as Danny and Sandy (perfect foreshadowing, to be honest). After the last person left, we stayed until 11 PM, cleaning up the studio and having the best time. We talked for hours realizing just how much we truly clicked. After that night, we became really good friends. Our connection felt natural, but when we finally decided to go out for ice cream, we weren't even sure if it was actually a date! Thankfully, once it was established that we both wanted to be more than friends, we went on a proper first date to the movies. That was the start of our forever. The Next Chapter: In the six years since that first scoop of ice cream, we’ve grown together in so many ways. We are so much alike in our values and love. He keeps me grounded and I keep him on his toes! A few highlights of the last 6 years: -We got our very first place together and immediately adopted our first cat, Ollie. This was obviously a huge act of love, since Chris committed to taking daily allergy medicine just so we could have him! -Ready for a big change, we packed up our things and moved down to Raleigh, NC. We both found amazing new jobs and expanded our growing family with another cat, Piper, and our crazy dog, Ryder. The Proposal: I had been saying for years that we didn't have any good pictures together, so for our 6th dating anniversary, Chris surprised me with a photoshoot! We got dressed up and headed out to the beautiful NC Museum of Art. About halfway through the couples shoot, we were instructed to look away from each other for a picture, and when I turned back around, Chris was down on one knee. It was the most incredible and thoughtful proposal, and now we have pictures that perfectly capture the moment! The rest of the shoot immediately turned into our surprise engagement session. We truly feel like we've created an amazing life here in Raleigh. We have so much love for one another, and we can’t wait to celebrate the start of our official forever with all of you!