It began with a corny pick-up line, courtesy of the best man, on an awful dating site. I asked her, “How do you feel about raisins?”, Sadie responded with a well thought out response balancing their presence in trail mix as opposed to by themselves. I was determined to complete my line, so, without addressing her response, I followed up with “Can I interest you in a date?” And somehow that worked! The date in question, a dinner at Table at 10, sealed the deal- and we quickly realized we’d found something special. It only took one global pandemic to bring us even closer, forcing us to learn how to live together merely five months into the relationship. Coming out of the pandemic and now certain that we wouldn’t be tearing each other’s throats out in the longterm, we set our sights on beginning to build a life together. First came the meeting of the families which went well despite the fact I continuously left Patrick alone to fend for himself with my rabid siblings. Then came Momo, our adorable Siamese. They say the best way to be sure if something will work long term is to live together and travel together. Living together was working out wonderfully. Traveling was another story. We took our first international trip back in 2021, to London for sight seeing and Wimbledon, and then Iceland. Sadie planned the perfect itinerary, leaving not a minute wasted, not a minute to eat, sleep, or walk to our next destination. We ran from shuttle to tube every day while in London. The best nights rest of the trip ended with us waking up to discover our friend Mark Pesce had slowly slipped into the Thames on his morning walk. Fortunately enough he made it back- just in time for our flight to Iceland to be cancelled. After breakdowns and scrambling and angry phone calls in which our boss Queen Brittany gave the representatives what-for, we were able to board a flight to Iceland. It was a day later than we had anticipated though, so we went from landing in Reykjavik immediately into a self-driven tour of the south shore. Everyone was quiet and awkward, we were soaked from the waterfalls in 30 degree weather, and upon getting lost trying to find the hidden Kvernufoss waterfall, Pat had started yelling at us that we HAD TO FIND IT. Eventually we did, and it was worth it- we walked beneath the perfectly secluded waterfall nestled within a vibrant green valley, and while the spray of cool Icelandic water covered our faces, I turned around to see Patrick on his knee with the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. I also looked over to see relief on Mark and Brittany’s faces as they were released from the quiet cage Pat had kept them trapped in to keep his secret. It was the perfect proposal, everything I had dreamed of it being. We made it home alive and in love, and from there on we began to plan our perfect wedding day. And we can’t wait to celebrate it with you all. ❤️