Welcome To Our Neck Of 'The Woods'

Her Side: For months, a friend invited me to young adult volleyball at St. Joe’s in Maumee, but I could never make it. My year was full of my senior year capstone broadcast journalism class and the youth retreat I helped found and lead in memory of my best friend, Cullen. Finally, on December 14, 2021, I went to volleyball. My sister Anna and I walked into a room full of strangers, but I’ve never met someone I couldn’t talk to! While learning names in the gym, I noticed a guy wearing a “Team Toledo” shirt. After hearing his name, I smiled at him and said, “I’ll call you Team Brad,” then asked where he was from and what he did. “I’m Brad,” he said. “I’m from Perrysburg and I’m in heating and air.” I later learned he was invited by his old youth minister, Tom. After that night, Anna and I missed a few weeks for the holidays. Brad only knew my first name and that I went to Evergreen High School. He later admitted he spent those weeks watching Evergreen graduation videos, hoping to find me, only to discover mine wasn’t even recorded! On January 11, we returned to volleyball and Brad was there again! Thank God! We talked more, exchanged social media and started messaging. The next week, after volleyball, I invited him to Taco Bell, without telling Anna. When she found out, she didn’t want me driving down the road with a guy I barely knew, so we met him there instead. That night was full of laughs and stories. Anna and I reminisced about favorite memories, like the Fulton County Fair. Brad smiled and casually invited himself to come with us that summer. We joked, “If you’re even still around.” As we left, under a full moon, I turned to him and said, “I’ll just look at you.” That’s how it all began. We had our first date that weekend and by January 29, 2022, Brad asked me to be his girlfriend, our first relationship for both of us! He then said "I love you" a week in! Wild, I know! But our story is a true example of "When you know, you know!!" We are so blessed God gave us each other. Bringing Bradley around my family and friends was so easy, he fit in right away. After 3 & 1/2 years of dating... on July 12, 2025, Bradley got down on one knee and asked me to marry him along the Maumee River at the Perrysburg docks in Hood Park. It was the most beautiful day... just the two of us, the water and the biggest moment of our lives so far! We celebrated with a cozy dinner afterward and we could not stop smiling. It was simple, perfect, so us and the easiest “YES” ever!! Four years later, we are ready for our best chapter yet... our forever. His Side: We met at St. Joe Maumee’s young adult volleyball event (thanks to Tom for the invite!) and honestly, it felt like love at first sight!! I thought "I have no idea who she is but there she is!" It was like I already knew her and our hearts were connected all along!! Then she did not come back to volleyball for a few weeks because of the holidays…and I immediately regretted not getting her last name when I couldn’t find her anywhere online. No luck! Thankfully, she showed back up one night and I was excited! This time, I made sure we actually exchanged last names and social media! Our next hangout was Taco Bell (romantic, I know) where I got her phone number - finally, then we went to adoration later that week and somewhere in there we decided on our first real date- pizza and a movie. (Pizza is a food group in my opinion😂) Date number two was Tony Packo’s and after, she looked right at me and asked if I was ever going to officially ask her to be my girlfriend. Since we connected right from the start, I knew she was the one! After a few great years of dating, we “casually” went ring shopping to look at styles in 2023. After I finished my journeyman’s classes in HVAC, I proposed in July 2025! Now here we are… engaged, excited and ready for forever!