It's Time to Say "I Do"!

It all began for us two online. We met on a dating app, named Hinge. Who would have thought!? Neither of us had high hopes for the app itself. We thought it would be just another series of boring conversations and bad dates! After three weeks of texting and late night phone calls we officially "met" on May 1st, 2021 for our first date. The date started at the Georgetown Waterfront in DC. We walked and talked (and laughed) for what felt like forever. We discussed it all - family, career, interests... and fried chicken (more on that later). The date ended with dinner at a popular Creole restaurant. After months of long-distance dating, weekend trips, and FaceTime "dates"... we made it. We got engaged on October 1st, 2022.

Over the course of the 11 months that we dated things between us were always so peaceful. I had never experienced a love quite like this. It was like I found my partner and best friend in one person. We went ring shopping on March 28th, 2022. It was a random Sunday and we decided to go look at engagement rings. As soon as we walked into the store my tears started flowing and as she was trying on different rings I was already thinking about how I was going to propose. On July 4th, 2022 I went back to that same store to purchase the ring she fell in love with. Then the planning really began. I was still living in Richmond, VA at that time and was traveling back and forth to DC to scope out the area I wanted to pop the question at. The hardest part of the planning process was keeping all of the details away from her! She is always ten steps ahead... but not this time. I wanted to take her back to the exact location of our very first date where our story really began. We had reservations at Sequoia Restaurant right on the Georgetown waterfront. While we were inside at dinner I made sure all of our family and friends were outside waiting for us. During dinner, I was extremely nervous. As we walked out of the restaurant the singers started singing "If This World Were Mine" (Bria's favorite song). She looked at me confused and I was smiling the whole time. I said to her "Come with me" and I held her hand as we walked over to the crowd of our loved ones. I told her "I never needed a long time, but I need you for all time" and I got down on one knee...