It's always crazy to think how we would have never happen if it wasn't for Stephen :) We met at the end of my freshman year at Wentworth after Stephen sent me a message through Instagram. I thought he was so sweet and charming, we messaged back and forth for hours. It was very easy to talk and get to know each other, I remember always being so excited to hear back from him. Soon after school ended, came our first Summer, we would often walk different beautiful areas in Quincy such as Wollaston beach. The most memorable thing about that Summer was how long we were able to talk for hours about anything and everything. I loved just sitting in his car and telling stories and sharing our opinions on things, falling for him was almost too easy. Our first 'real' date was at the Quincy IHOP, it's funny looking back to that day and seeing how he still orders the exact same thing he ordered that day every time. That day we spoke about the future but unfortunately, that summer, I had already planned an almost 2-month trip to Panama, thus our almost perfect summer came to an end. I remember leaving on the plane and being so conflicted because as excited as I was to see my family back home in Panama, there was so much sadness to leave him and I already couldn't wait to be back. Those 2 months felt so long, I took any chance I could to message him and we still spoke every day and chatted all night. Finally, I returned right as the fall semester began. We were finally able to talk in person again and enjoy each others presence, as he prepared for his basketball season in the winter, we still found time to talk and hang out, and after a serious conversation about our future, he asked me to be his girlfriend on September 20th, 2018, and of course I said Yes! Here we are now almost 7 years later, and we still really enjoy the beautiful scenic walks that we did so often those first few months <3 -The Bride, Hillary

When you know you have met the one, you feel it’s the right time to make that huge step in your life. We had just returned from a trip to NY to celebrate our birthdays and it was a blast. I took almost 1000 pictures of her during the trip and when we got back home, as I scrolled through each picture, and smiled I thought to myself our anniversary is coming up in a couple of months, it’s about time to ask the question. I knew I had to get the blessing from all our family members, so I started with my mom and Ify and that was an easy yes. Next was her family and I honestly didn’t know how to start, this was my first time and I didn’t know how to approach them to ask. Then we had a birthday dinner for Hanna and everyone was having a great time Hanna was so happy that she accidentally tipped her drink and it spilled all over me (funny moment). As we walked out I thought to myself that now is the time to ask. First I asked John and he said yes then Hanna and they were so happy. Once I got home, I’m like that’s two down, all that was left was her mom and Helen. I decided to message Helen, I sent her a text on July 10th and we got on a call and the rest was history, another yes! Now all that was left was the creator of Hillary (her mom). She had come over to our house and stayed for a little, when it was time to leave I helped walk her to her car. In my head I thought to myself that now is the perfect time to ask her for her blessing and when I did she began crying and said yes and gave me one of her awesome hugs! It made me a little watery too but I had to stay strong, it was a great day. I told her I wanted to propose in New York and she gave me a big no because she wanted to be a part of it and see it so I had to think of a different location but I saved that for the next day. I told her to give Hanna and John a lot of credit for keeping it a secret from her and holding it down. I feel like I’m adding too much to this so let’s fast forward to the planning. I needed some help to get Hillary to do her nails and look pretty and who else would be the best person to help other than Juli and Alyza!! They were able to get Hillary away for a girls day. So then I had to get a photographer which Juli helped with too. For the location, I chose the beautiful Heritage Museum and Garden which we’ve been to often and the scenery is always amazing. So that was an easy choice. I contacted the people there to confirm I was in the clear to do a proposal and have a photographer with me so I had to fill out some paperwork which wasn’t bad. I created a group chat with everyone and set the date for September 16th cause we had the patriots game on the 17th. As we got closer to the date I was best friends with the weather app to make sure the weather was great but then the 16th showed a terrible storm. So I’m thinking everything will be ruined, to avoid this I called to see if we could go on the 17th and the people were so nice and they said it was ok. I’m definitely adding way too much but let’s keep going I'm cooking right now. On the day of the proposal, I ensured everyone was getting there way earlier than me to find a spot to hide. And oh Lordy I had some cold feet I was so nervous but I didn’t let that stop me from the big day. So I got to the Heritage Museum and shared my location with the group so they could track where we were and Juli told me to go to a different spot so I’m like what is she talking about, then I met the photographer in the front and I had to come up with a story so it wouldn’t give it away. I told Hillary that he was here to help take pictures of us and the scenery for promotional marketing for the Heritage Museum and it looked like she believed me so it worked. He did his magic and found a great spot and made her turn to look at the scene then it was my time to shine. I got on one knee and popped the question and here we are today. -The Groom, Stephen