Our friendship began in 2014 while we were both in college at the University of Maryland. We were introduced by our mutual friends Jess (bridesmaid) and Cody (best man), but it wasn't until several years later that we began dating. Shannon: The first memory I have of Robbie was at a party in College Park. We hadn't officially met yet, but I sat down on a couch between him and Cody to have some casual conversation. Eventually, I went to get up from the couch and I was surprised when Robbie kindly reached his hand out to help me up; in that moment, I thought to myself: "Wow, how gentlemanly!" Robbie: I remember the day I asked Shannon to be my girlfriend; it was April 1st, 2016. I texted Shannon earlier that day, asking her if she wanted to go out on a date to Outback because I had an important thing to tell her. She, of course, said yes. So when I got home from work, I got dressed up for our date. While getting ready, I was constantly thinking about how I would ask her to be my girlfriend. When would be the perfect time to do so? We drove to Outback and chatted back and forth; She knew something was on my mind because I struggled to get words out of my mouth. We enjoyed a nice dinner together, and as we left, my brain decided now is the time to ask her, Rob. I looked over at her, nervous, and somehow managed to get the words out of my mouth, "Shannon, will you be my girlfriend?" She replied, "Yes, and this better not be some April fools joke." After hearing her say yes, I was beyond happy.

Just before Christmas in 2019, we took a trip to Disney World. We had a plan mapped out to visit the parks and enjoy all the magic of Disney at Christmas time. One morning, we headed off to breakfast at Chef Mickey's and Robbie suggested we take a quick picture by the Christmas tree in the Grand Floridian lobby on our way. We walked up to the Disney photographer in front of the tree when Robbie leaned in to whisper something to the photographer. We quickly step up to the tree to pose for our picture and at this moment, Robbie turned to face Shannon and got down on one knee. He pulled out the ring, looked up, and asked: "Will you Marry me?" Completely surprised, Shannon happily said, "Yes!" and the whole crowd of people in the hotel lobby applauded and congratulated us. We stepped away, and the surprise soon settled into overwhelming happiness accompanied by a waterfall of tears.