Stephan and Shannon met during orientation of their first "real jobs" out of college on February 2, 2016. After three weeks of orientation, the two got placed on the same sales teams in Santa Monica. They became good friends - going to happy hours after work, joining work sports leagues, attending concerts at the pier... Shannon even invited Stephan to Lake Havasu with her family. (Momma Durk was very fond of Stephan after that trip). However, Shannon thought that dating a coworker sitting the seat next to her was not a good idea at first. Finally on October 1st, the two went to a concert with a group of friends down in San Diego and had so much fun, they decided to give dating a try. It seemed to have worked out...

With Covid-19, the original proposal Stephan had planned was not in store, but he made it work and so much more. June 19, 2020 - Stephan woke up at 6am and went to the store to buy lots of flowers, champagne, wine and cards. He came back, decorated the apartment and waited for Shannon to wake up. Pacing around the place sweating, he soon realized Sleepy Shan was not going to wake up for a while so he decided to wake her up himself. She read a very sweet card placed on the nightstand and went outside to give Stephan a hug. She opened the bedroom door to bouquets of flowers and a path of rose pedals and arrows leading to the balcony. She walked outside where we was waiting for her and got on one knee. They took the day off work and drove to Santa Barbara for the weekend to celebrate in a gorgeous cottage he reserved.