Although they grew up in the same hometown, Olivia's and Sam's path wouldn't officially cross until 7th grade English class. As the years came and went, Olivia and Sam steadily became closer friends. They always found themselves flirting throughout the halls of school and being drawn to each others presence. After the summer before their Junior year, Olivia and Sam decided to take their friendship to the next stage. And the rest is history. Growing more and more in love with their crush from middle school...

It was the day of their anniversary, August 12, and Sam planned a little evening get away... Little did Olivia know that over the past couple months, Sam had been meticulously planning a moment they had dreamed of for a very long time. Few details on the day's events were shared with Olivia (Sam is notorious for surprising Olivia, so this was not something out of the ordinary)... all she knew was to be ready around 6 and dinner would be in St. Augustine. When they finally arrived, there were a few dark clouds in the distance. So, Sam decided to bring a jacket. (Around the same time, Olivia did a quick scan of Sam's pants for any outline of ring box - she had a gut feeling that maybe it would be the day. But, there was no sign of a box). So, they began to stroll the streets of beautiful St. Augustine on their way to "dinner." Unbeknownst to Olivia, Sam was periodically messaging the photographer throughout their walk. Turns out the initial spot/fountain in front of the Lightner Museum was off for the night (talk about STRESSFUL for Sam, but he showed no signs of worry - so Olivia was clueless). But, nothing was going to stop Sam from asking those four special words. He quickly made the adjustment to in front of the statue of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés as they were about 3 minutes away from the spot. As they approached the garden in front of Lightner Museum, Sam made the suggestion to take a photo for their anniversary. He quickly found someone and took all of their stuff and placed it behind a bush. After the photos were taken, he told Olivia to go look through them. As Olivia was walking away, Sam quickly grabbed the ring from his rain jacket and got down on one knee. Olivia noticed as she was walking towards the "random photographer" there were two large Canon camera lenses attached to her hips. As she turned back to look for Sam, he said, "You're my best friend...Will you make me the happiest man in the world, will you marry me?" Olivia fell to her knees and stated, "yes!" After a quick engagement photoshoot, Sam had another surprise waiting. As they made their way to a local restaurant, both Olivia's and Sam's parents were there to celebrate the ending of their special day! August 12, 2022 ♡

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