We're getting married!

We met at a Friendsgiving party that my (Nicole) sister was hosting. It was at her then fiancé's (Ryan) house where he lived with his roommates, one of them being Andy. We were not impressed with each other at the party and spent the majority of the time ignoring each other. Little did we know we would spend the next several months hanging out in social gatherings and slowly begin to fall for each other! One evening in March of 2020, before the world shut down during the pandemic, myself, my sister, Ryan, and Andy all went out for drinks. It was during this time that we really hit it off and started enjoying each other's company. The next day, we went out on our first unofficial date and spent hours talking about our lives and families. Eventually, the day had to end as I had a class to attend, but phone numbers were exchanged and sparks flew. After that, there were very few days that we didn't text each other, all leading up to our first official date.

Our official first date was at YardHouse in Costa Mesa. It was right when COVID restrictions finally began lifting, and we had spent months waiting for our opportunity for a real first date. Halfway through the date, I (Nicole) excused myself to go to the restroom and sent a text to my friend Marta saying, "This date is going really well and I think he's the one," with all the heart eyed emojis I could fit into one text. When they say "when you know you know," it's not just some cliché phrase. It's the real deal!

I had been convinced for months that Andy was going to pop the question while we were on my family's annual Christmas vacation in Mammoth, California. My best friend Emily had INSISTED on joining us on our family vacation. Not to mention, Andy had taken me ring shopping a few months prior and my Instagram feed was full of winter proposals - hello foreshadowing! In a last ditch effort to throw off the scent, Andy began planning an elaborate vacation to take with just the two of us for February. His plan worked. I was no longer convinced he was proposing in Mammoth and began planning to get engaged on our "upcoming" February vacation. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and we are all sitting in the lodge in Mammoth, about to start our first snowboarding day of the season. My mom comes up with the idea to retake our family photo that we always take, so we all hiked up to a spot on the mountain and began taking family photos. Sarah decided she wanted to do a couple's photo with her husband, then my brother and his wife took a photo, and afterwards, Sarah insisted that Andy and I take a picture. We snapped a couple of shots, and in the middle of the second picture, he got down on one knee, pulled out a STUNNING ring, and popped the question. Needless to say, I said YES! (P.S. the February "vacation" never happened). We are so excited to get married and share our special day with all of you! See you in SJC!