We met in pharmacy school at UNC on the satellite campus in Asheville. Sean started one year after me, and we knew each other through social events. In March of 2017, we went on our first date.

We went on our first date to a local cidery, Boldrock. We were so caught up talking that we forgot to eat dinner. We went back to my apartment and heated up a frozen pizza and continued talking until 2 or 3am.

We had already chosen a ring, so I knew the question was coming, but I thought he would ask while in Georgia with my family. I should have known that he wouldn't want to ask in front of everyone. The day he asked, I was staffing at work and knew I would be staying late since I was leaving for Georgia the next day. Sean had the day off and was texting to ask when I would be leaving. I didn't think much of it; I just figured he was hungry and wanted to make dinner. When I walked through the garage door, I saw that Penny and Avery had flowers and bows on their collars. I also noticed Sean had a button up shirt instead of lazy clothes. I thought he just planned an at-home date night. I didn't notice he was down on one knee as he was messing with Penny's collar. Then, he suddenly had the ring (he had tied it to Penny's collar) and popped the question! Right in the hallway from the garage while I was wearing scrubs with a messy ponytail and no makeup. I was very surprised that Sean asked then, and I didn't answer, so Sean had to ask again. We then called our families, and we forgot to take any pictures that day.

To start, I didn't think it was going to be a big surprise to her. We had got the ring together a little while before and had talked about getting married quite a bit. I wanted it to be private with just me and her so I decided to do it at home on a day when I wasn't working. I had everything planned. I loaded the question with dressing our dogs up and also had a nice dinner planned. Iliana, in her typical fashion, did not do well with things she didn't plan. My dinner was scrapped because she forgot to cancel a hello fresh order and that showed up. We had to eat them all in a row because we were leaving for a portion of the week and they would go bad. She also ended up working late that day and didn't come home till almost an hour after she normally did. When she did FINALLY come home she didn't even notice me because of the perfectly dressed up puppers and I had to ask her multiple times. Ultimately she said yes. It didn't go according to plan but wouldn't change a thing.