Without knowing at the time, we played on the same youth soccer team in grade school. Years later, our paths crossed again in a brief driving session during drivers ed. Stacy was ending her driving session and Paul was beginning his. This lead to our first date on Valentines Day months later. As any first date while in high school goes, it was filled with anxiety and awkward encounters. And it did not lead into any more future dates until years later. We kept in distant contact throughout the rest of high school and into college with the help of mutual friends. In the summer of 2015 while vacationing with family at Litchfield Beach, SC., we bonded over a mutual love of the area and began rekindling our own friendship. By fall 2015, our friendship had turned into a relationship and we found ourselves enjoying each others company more and more. Since then we have spent 6 wonderful years traveling and building a life together. We have visited Paris and London, went to a live Manchester United game, moved to Cleveland, adopted and raised our sweet Golden Retriever, Beckham, and built a house. Our story is only beginning and we truly cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

After rekindling a long friendship over the love of Litchfield Beach, Paul knew there was only one place to have a proper proposal. He surprised Stacy by flying to Litchfield at the beginning of her family vacation. Paul had told Stacy that he would miss half of the family vacation due to a work conflict. Little did she know that Paul was actually less than a mile away in a condo with his family planning the surprise of a life time. With plans of this proposal since Easter, Stacy's family had to come up with the perfect excuse to get her dressed up and on the beach. “Family photos” were scheduled to be taken on the beach the day after they arrived. After getting ready and a long walk to find the beach location to meet the photographer, Stacy was greeted at the beach access ramp with balloons and signs that said “I love you”. As she made her way down the ramp, Paul was standing on the beach in a suit next to a rose petal heart. After Paul proposed, his family surprised Stacy by popping out of the dunes. Many tears and laughs were shared as the celebrations began.