Allison and Daniel met in college when someone stole Daniel's unassigned assigned seat in class and he sat next to her. He liked her perfume, she liked the way he made her laugh. He continued to sit next to her for the rest of the semester, choosing to take another class together the following semester. Ironically, it was Chemistry. They began going out on small, awkward dates for lunch after. Awkward conversations quickly turned into days losing track of time while binge watching television series - and soon enough they were spending every day together.

June 29, 2020 Since my first birthday, I spent every summer growing up at my family's lake house in Michigan. When our first summer together rolled around, I nervously invited Daniel to go with me, anxious to share my “happy place” with him. Two days into it, he first told me he loved me. When summer came three years later, Daniel had somehow convinced me that he was not going to propose to me while we were in Michigan - “Doing it in Michigan would be too predictable and I would be expecting that.” So there we were, in my favorite place in the world and picnicking overlooking the very lake he first told me he loved me, when he suddenly became very serious, knelt, and my head, already swimming with Champagne, went absolutely blank. All I could manage to say was “What are you doing?” (x8) as I watched him pull out the box.

I always planned on proposing in Michigan, but originally the plan was to do it in South Haven, MI on the lighthouse boardwalk after her dad and brother arrived (a few days later). I planned for them to be waiting to celebrate with us once we got back to Sandy Pines. Fortunately, Allie did the planning for me. She had put together a picnic date at the lakeside chapel at Sandy Pines, and the moment felt right.