Waimanalo Beach, HI will always hold a special place in our hearts. On our trip to Hawaii in February 2022 we came to this beach one day. We picked up lunch at a super yummy little restaurant near by and ate on the beach. After this we relaxed on the beach and eventually fell asleep. When we woke up there was a light misty rain and the beach was pretty much cleared out by that point. We decided to pack up and head back to the car. While walking to the car Zach told Lauren to put her stuff down and then grabbed her and started slow dancing with her in the parking lot. There was a family near by playing music and it made the whole thing feel so perfect and magical! We plan on having our first dance here in the parking lot!

We met on June 13, 2021. Lauren was attending a coworkers (Phu) birthday party in Newport Beach, CA and the whole group decided to head down to the water for a little bit. Zach saw what looked like a group of crazy people running down to the water and it just so happened to be that this was the group Lauren was in. While down at the water Lauren told Phu that we should take a big group photo, Phu looked around and told Lauren that he knew that guy while pointing over at Zach. Lauren told Phu that there was no way he knew this random guy walking on the beach, but it turns out that he did know him because he started yelling Zach's name and waving him down!! Zach came over and started talking to Phu, Phu invited Zach back to the house for a little bit but Zach initially turned down the invite and then took the group pic. While taking the group picture Phu told Lauren that he felt like Zach and Lauren would make a good couple and asked Lauren if he wanted him to set them up. Lauren felt embarrassed and said no at first. After the picture was done Phu tried to get Zach to come over again and Christian was able to convince Zach to head over just for a little bit. Once everyone was back at the house, Lauren was pouring shots for everyone. Once she got to Zach she could tell that he wasn't up for drinking and fake poured him a shot. This caught Zach's attention and left a lasting impression. Later in the night Zach came up to Lauren and said "Hey, your the girl who fake poured me a shot". We started talking for a bit and eventually Zach asked for Lauren's phone number and the rest is history!!

Our first date was on July 2, 2021. It took what felt like forever to finally have our first date but thank goodness we did! Our first date was at Philz coffee at Pacific City. Lauren thought it was a little odd that Zach chose this place for the first date since Lauren was not a coffee fan at the time. Once at Philz though Zach took the time to help Lauren find something she liked and she has been hooked on coffee since! Once we got our drinks we went and sat on the brown steps and talked for hours. We easily could have been there all night but the date only ended because we both were about to pee our pants and had to go to the bathroom! We both left that date though knowing that we had something special and couldn't wait to see each other again.

Zach proposed on June 6, 2025. This was our first day in Paris and we were so excited to kick off our trip. That morning we went to Carette for the best hot chocolate ever and some breakfast. On the bus ride over Zach was looking out the window scoping out a good spot to propose. We enjoyed an amazing breakfast at Carette and then it was time to walk to see the Eiffel Tower. Lauren could tell immediately though that Zach was kind of acting weird and super nervous for some reason. Lauren wanted to stop at take pictures and Zach was hurrying her along! Once we got down to the Main Street area Zach asked Lauren if she wanted to walk along the Seine river and then told her there were some stairs over there. Lauren immediately knew that Zach had something up his sleeve! We walked down the stairs to go the Seine river and enjoyed the calmness and beauty that the views had to offer. Zach then grabbed both of Lauren's hands and said the sweetest stuff to her and then got down on one knee to pop the big question! Lauren obviously said yes!! We then got to spend the rest of the day as well as our whole trip in Europe celebrating us and really soaking up being Fiance's!