Curtis and I met in 2018, through our respective best friends Joe & Joey. They had recently started dating, and between the two of them, they knew early on "Emily & Curtis need to meet." Little did they know, they started a once in a lifetime love story for each of us. From there, Joey had started dropping hints every time I saw her; "he's so funny,” “he loves dogs,” “he’s so sweet," etc. etc. One night, at a Bucks viewing party Joey & Joe had hosted, Joey pulled me up to Curtis and said "Emily! This is Curtis!" Since Joey had spent months telling me little details about him, I had figured she had done the same to Curtis, so I responded excitedly "Hi, so nice to meet you!" Curtis responded with "hi, you too" and quickly walked away. This didn't necessarily feel like the 'love at first sight' moment I had been waiting for given the build up. Turns out, Joey had known that if she told Curtis too much about me prior to that night, he'd be too nervous and not make a great first impression. Jury is still out which option would have been better, based on how the first interaction went. Luckily, as the night went on, we ended up recovering from the awkward first introduction; talking, dancing at a bar, and quickly feeling like I was with a best friend of years. The rest was history. Curtis at the time lived out in Hubertus on Friess Lake, and I had just moved downtown Milwaukee for the first time. Even though I was excited to be downtown & experience all it had to offer, I ended up spending most of my weekends that summer hunkering down at the lake; playing cribbage, grilling, jet skiing, and drinking 1 too many Margaritas. It's one of our favorite summers to date. At the end of Summer, Curtis decided it was time to move downtown. He had told me that the move was driven out of him missing Milwaukee since his days at UWM. Little did I know, Curtis moved downtown to be closer to me. Living down the street from one another further proved how similar we were; we loved the same areas of Milwaukee & enjoyed spending our free time in the same ways. Those next few months, living in the same city, further strengthened our relationship. Our 7 years together have been spent doing all of our favorite things - lake days with Curtis’ family, pool days & Sunday breakfasts with mine, trips out to Colorado for snowboarding, driving down to Chicago to visit all of our friends, trying out new restaurants, tasting new beers at beer gardens, attending any Milwaukee festival we can get to, and as of April 2023, spending time with our beloved & wild dog, Juneau. We are similar in the best ways, and different in even better ways. We balance each other out, but also challenge each other. We never like to take life too seriously, joke around with each other constantly, but love each other deeply, which if you ask us, is the perfect equation. There’s nothing that has been more certain for either of us, that the rest of our life is ours for the taking, and can’t wait to be doing it side by side. With Love, Emily

On November 5th, 2023, Curtis planned a perfect day. I had spent the whole week in New York for work, so when I came home to find out that Curtis had reached out to my family to host a Packer Party at our apartment, I was so excited. I thought “great, snacks, beers, hanging with my family, what could be better?” I started to ask Curtis questions around the day, since usually I’m the planner, I wanted to get a grasp on what had to be done. I asked “do you have snacks planned?” and Curtis swiftly responded “No, no snacks, we’re getting dinner after.” Although I thought it was strange to NOT have snacks at a Packer Party, and was mildly disappointed at the lack of mini-weenies and dips, I was pleasantly surprised with the idea of dinner plans. So we moved on, cleaned and got ready throughout the next couple of days. Sunday came, and Curtis was slightly anxious, but he always is during Packer season, so I thought nothing of it. What should have been a clear indication to me, was when Curtis prompted me “Hey, are you going to paint your nails today?” I thought to myself, “Hm, that’s a weird question, but I do usually paint my nails on Sundays,” so I painted my nails with no further questions. The day went on without a hitch, the Packers even won! Thank goodness, because I had noticed Curtis was more anxious than usual throughout the game, little did I know the nerves were all tied to what was to come in the next couple of hours. We all had fun; drank some beers, cheered on our team, and we were more than ready to go to dinner (remember, ‘no game-day snacks’). Curtis had made a reservation at Riverfront Pizzeria; a Pizza restaurant a mere 4 blocks from our apartment, so when Curtis took a different turn to take the long way, along the river, I was confused. “Why would we go that way? It’s so far out of the way.” Curtis responded “It’s a beautiful night in November, we should take advantage.” So we did. We walked along the river, approaching one of our favorite spots throughout our relationship, the Gazebo on the River. This Gazebo has held many special memories throughout our relationship. Early on in dating, while I lived in my first apartment in the Third Ward, we would sit at this Gazebo, listening to music, enjoying the River, and chatting about life. As I got closer to the spot, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted our best friends, Joey & Joe. I was so surprised, and slightly hurt since they didn’t tell us they’d be in the neighborhood, so I shouted “What the heck are you guys doing here without telling us?! Do you want to come to dinner?” Again, blissfully unaware, I thought nothing of it, until Curtis slyly grabbed my arm and said “Hey, can I talk to you over here.” All of the hints, questions, and subtle gestures finally clicked. “Oh my god, is this it?!” Curtis pulled me to the center of the gazebo and asked the question. “Emily, this is the first place I realized I loved you, and this is where I want to ask to love you forever.” Saying yes to something has never been easier. Tears flowed, champagne was popped, and we celebrated one of the best moments of our lives.