It all started back in 2013 at UMD. Garret and Vanessa met through Emma (Garret’s brother’s now wife) while she and Vanessa were in Vocal Jazz together. Garret and Vanessa bonded over their shared music taste and love for exploring. That summer the two of them had a mild “fling” where Garret asked Vanessa on a date (Vanessa did not know this was a date) to take a day trip up the North Shore. They went to Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, Palisade Head, and of course Betty’s Pies. The trip ended with dinner with Trisha at Fitger’s. Garret, a huge Harry Potter fan, convinced Vanessa to have a Harry Potter movie marathon with him and Zack, where they secretly would hold hands under the blanket. Garret and Vanessa continued to hang out occasionally throughout the rest of summer including an afternoon of Bocce turned photo shoot with Trisha and Tanner when Trisha wanted to test out her new camera lens. Things fizzled as and Garret and Vanessa began to hang out less as they finished school. Garret graduated and moved to Colorado to join Tanner and Emma, and Vanessa finished school for another year before moving to the cities with Trisha. When Garret moved back to Minneapolis to live with his Best Man Zack, Garret and Vanessa hung out for the first time in a few years when Garret and Zack were invited to Trisha and Vanessa’s house warming party, as friends (Vanessa had a boyfriend at the time). Garret knew then, he saw a future with Vanessa. After a few more times hanging out as friends, going to the bars in Uptown, and seeing each other every now and then in group settings, Garret and Vanessa, after an attempt by Garret to see if Vanessa was interested in trying again, decided it was best to stay friends. Their rekindling began at Tanner and Emma’s gender reveal party, where Vanessa mustered up the courage to talk to Garret, which turned into a 2-hour conversation (other party goers may say 4-hour) about where they stood, and the rest is history.

Vanessa and I since early on in the relationship (3-4 months) talked about wanting to get married. We had known each other since 2013 and got to know one another as friends before dating. This, and our shared spontaneity, made our relationship progress really quickly. I think I had essentially moved in with Vanessa, and ditched Zack, after about 4 months of dating; we had gone on our first vacation together in Destin, FL within 5 months; and I was shown pictures of the type of ring Vanessa wanted, which I of course kept and came in handy later, within 7 months. Vanessa has always been a planner, she loves to sit down, preferably at Parallel Coffee, and plan out where the wants to go next, the specific details of the trip, and what she wants to see while were there. This made every vacation and the full wedding (after being engaged for 3 weeks) organized and planned out. Due to her love of planning I was genuinely curious how long she wanted to be engaged for prior to a wedding, she thought any bride needed 12-15 months. Knowing Vanessa and I were ready for the next step, the constant questions from family and friends about when I would propose, and my thinking how great a summer wedding in Detroit Lakes in the summer of 2021 would be, really put me on the clock near the end of 2019. So I started looking for, and quickly found, the perfect ring. As we were planning yet another spontaneous trip, this time to Disney, I was thinking about proposing. Disney is Vanessa's favorite place and it would have been a "magical" proposal. The idea of not having family around just didn't seem right, although Ness later told me, after a few too many drinks at Epcot, that she thought I might have proposed on the trip. I also might have spilled too much information during this slightly intoxicated conversation, like how I had a ring... So coming back from Disney I thought, I better figure out how I'm going to do this.

The flight home from Disney gave me some time to think. Our next trip, planned for 2 weeks later, was a staycation downtown. Vanessa and I had always joked that if I won my Fantasy Football league I would take her to Manny's Steakhouse. Well, this year I won (had to slide in this subtle brag) and we had booked or staycation around our dinner at Manny's, which included a hotel stay at the Marquette. I thought, what better way to celebrate getting engaged. So the Monday after our Disney trip January 13th, I texted Trisha. I had told her I bought a ring, of course Vanessa had already told her, and I swore her to secrecy as I began to tell her the plan. A frequent hobby for both Vanessa and Trisha is photo shoots. I asked Trisha if she could convince Vanessa to have a photo shoot while we were downtown. Trisha helped play this perfectly telling Vanessa she had rented a camera lens for the weekend and was itching for a winter photo shoot. Vanessa, quickly agreed. The original plan was to have Trisha and Vanessa downtown, I would then surprise Vanessa midway through the photo shoot at the Stone Arch Bridge and get down on one knee. I would even have high quality photos of it happening. Vanessa however wanted to do a couples photo shoot, something she hadn't really suggested in the past. I thought, this might be even better. Knowing 2 weeks ahead of time the day I was going to propose allowed me to fill in everyone else, I had talked to my Mom and Dad, siblings, Trisha, and Vanessa's Mom Phyllis. I let everyone know what was happening and let them all know we wanted to celebrate right after the proposal. I wanted to keep the proposal intimate though and have it just be Me, Vanessa, and Trisha and Braydon (who needed to document it all). Everyone was to meet at the Crooked Pint at 1:30pm to celebrate.

The next two weeks were full of additional planning. I talked to the Marquette Hotel and told them my plan, they upgraded us to a King Suite on the corner of the 18th floor and were able to stock the room with Wine, Cheese, and Fruit. I called Manny’s they were excited as well and let me know that they would put it on the reservation, this later turned into congratulations from the staff upon checking in, a free bottle of champagne at the table, and the best chocolate cheesecake desert I have ever had. I also got a recommendation to also stop at a speak easy called Prohibition on the 28th floor of the Foshay Tower for an after dinner drink. All of this was a surprise to Vanessa. The day/night before I would propose, I was quite nervous. Thankfully Vanessa wanted to have a Wine Night, a frequent event in our house, which helped calm me down a bit. The next morning I went to the gym, I needed to get my mind off of everything as I would be a nervous wreck sitting around the house waiting for this to happen. Once Trisha and Vanessa were ready to head downtown I grabbed the ring and jumped in the car. I would have a text chain of the family updating them on how things were going, when the proposal would go down, and when we would all meet up. Throughout the photo shoot I sent about 8 texts, continuing to push back the time further and further. I underestimated how long this would take. Since the twins were excited to take pictures I decided to keep the proposal to the end. After our 3rd stop at the car to warm up before heading to the bridge I took the ring out of my jacket and moved it to my back pocket. Nervously walking slightly behind Vanessa hallway down the bridge to ensure she didn’t see anything in my back pocket. Once Trisha and Vanessa agreed that the backdrop was ready for pictures, Vanessa and I posed for one photo. As we got she got ready for the next, I took out the ring and got down on one knee. SHE SAID YES!