We can't wait to celebrate with you!

Alex smiled at Rachel. Literally, that's all it took. Rachel was waiting patiently to be interviewed for a sales position at JM Lexus, and Alex walked out of the sales manager's office. He smiled his famous smile and kept walking. Rachel ended up landing the job and while she was in training, she got to know Alex. After some playful banter back and forth about cars, Alex added Rachel on Facebook. From there, they began chatting, and Rachel asked Alex to go grab a cocktail. Alex politely declined. "I beg your pardon?" she asked. After much convincing, the cocktails happened. From there, Rachel wowed Alex with her cooking skills and her vast car knowledge, both surefire ways to a guy's heart. On their way with Alex's parents to a work sponsored event, Alex's dad asked, "How am I introducing you two? Friends? Coworkers? Boyfriend and girlfriend?" Not needing much convincing, Alex replied, "Boyfriend and girlfriend" The rest is history!

Proposing to Rachel was one of the happiest days of my life, albeit a little stressful. I started planning the proposal about 3 months prior to the day, July 22nd, 2019. The planning started when Rachel said she wanted to take a trip to New York to visit friends and family. For me, the easiest part to all of this was picking out the ring since Rachel had dropped many hints that she wanted the same ring her mom has. Two weeks later, I called her parents to just “hang out” while Rachel was at work. This was the first time I had ever gone to her parent’s house without her, so I had a feeling they knew why I was there. So, after some talking, I finally got the nerve to ask her parents if I could take their daughters’ hand in marriage. WHAT A RELIEF when Rachel’s mom said “Absolutely!” A week later, we were on our flight to Long Island, the longest flight of my life. The ring was in my backpack, and Rachel was right next to me. Rachel is the toughest person to surprise and absolutely hates being surprised at all! We met up with Alyssa, Rachel’s maid of honor and my partner in crime. Alyssa was a HUGE part of the planning and execution of the surprise, including throwing Rachel off, and switching the ring from my backpack to her purse, in case Rachel got curious, which of course she did. The day had come. All three of us went to Rachel’s favorite vineyard, Martha Clara. Rachel had no idea I had butterflies in my stomach, knowing what was about to happen. Alyssa brought up the idea that we should take some cheesy pictures. Towards the end, I asked Rachel a question that gave it all away; “Would your parents be mad if I didn’t ask them for permission to marry you?” “Yes?” Rachel said. I then said, “Well it’s a good thing I did.” This was the best part of the day because before I even got down on one knee, Rachel had already started ugly crying. Then Alyssa started and so did I. It took Rachel a minute to gather herself and wipe away her tears of joy before she said YES!