Christina & Alex's story goes a little further than meeting their first semester freshman year at St. Mary's College. They first met at Santa Clara University on Halloween weekend 2014. The very next night at a more casual party in Moraga, Christina spotted a cute cowboy that looked just like the cute mechanic she had met the night before. They quickly realized they were both freshman at St. Mary's. ...and the rest is not history...yet. They dated for a few weeks leading up to Christmas break then decided to go their separate ways. After all, it was only a few months into their college experience! ;) They didn't really keep in touch after break until one Thursday night...Christina was packing for a weekend trip to visit friends at another college when she was convinced to stop by a bonfire party on campus. She decided to go "just for an hour." With her sweats, ugg boots & thermos full of her favorite wine (Miscela from Romeo Vineyards, of course) she ventured through campus to get to this hidden bonfire spot. In all it's cheesiness, once she got to the spot Christina literally fell down the dirt hill to the bonfire & guess who was at the bottom to catch her... That night, Christina and Alex stayed up all night and early morning talking, laughing, learning even more about each other: their lives, their families, their goals, and especially about fate and weird coincidences. But even after the bonfire, Alex still seemed to have his doubts. He thought "this girl is just too good to be true." A week later they met again at a school dance. As Alex was turning the corner towards the bathrooms, Christina was running out with some friends to dance to "Shut Up & Dance with Me." She grabbed Alex on her way to the dance floor and for the rest of night they danced together like they were the only two in the room.... One month later (on June 13, 2015), Alex asked Christina to officially be his girlfriend in the back of a pizzeria in North Beach, San Francisco. By the time they get married, they will have celebrated 8 years together.

In May of 2021 (on Mother’s Day morning), while Christina was cooking her mom breakfast, Alex snuck away to ask both of her parents for their blessing to propose. It was a genius plan and Christina would never know ... so he thought. As he sat them down, he began: “I’ve been wanting to ask you guys a question,” he said and left a big pause to let the tension linger before continuing, “can I borrow some butter for the eggs?” A loud nervous laugh came out of Charlie as Caroline went into the refrigerator and grabbed Alex the butter. He thought that was enough torture so he finally asked the words they’ve been waiting to hear. After happy tears and big hugs, they gathered their composure and joined everyone else to eat. It wasn’t 4 hours later, Charlie just couldn’t contain himself any longer and decided to call Christina to say, “congratulations honey, I’m just so happy Alex finally asked me the BIG question and I just love you guys.” Oops! Fast forward to November 6, 2021: Christina & Alex had a trip booked to Costa Rica when COVID had other plans. They decided a road-trip down the California coast sounded like a better idea. They had a few stops planned along the way, one of them being in Carmel, CA. Sometime in September, Alex left early one Saturday morning to go on a "boys surf trip" to Big Sur for the day. His real plans were to head to Carmel to scout out the best proposal spot. On November 6th, it was the most beautiful clear & warm day at Carmel-River State Beach when Alex got down on one knee and asked Christina to marry him. More surprises followed as their families came together for a celebratory dinner in downtown Carmel. It truly was the most perfect day.

... and the rest it history