After an afternoon of walking the Japanese gardens in Portland, Andrew took me to a coffee shop in Ladds Addition to get tea and warm up. We used to walk Ladds and drink coffee when first getting to know each other and is still one of our favorite neighborhoods. After our tea, we went for a walk and came upon a sidewalk that has a painted hopscotch. I remembered the hopscotch from one of the first times we walked together. As we continued walking over the hopscotch, Andrew stopped, smiled, and said “This very spot, seeing you do this hopscotch in the rain a year ago, I knew we were going to be together for the rest of our lives. So, do you want to?” and pulled out the ring. His hands were shaking, and I said yes!

After an especially trying pandemic, Andrew and I had decided to put the engagement on hold until we both felt it was the right time to continue wedding plans. On a trip to the East Coast fall of 2021, romantic lightning struck and Andrew decided he couldn’t wait to get married any longer. So when I joined him a couple weeks into his trip he surprised me by proposing a SECOND time! It was a very romantic proposal in the early morning of our rental home in Winooski, Vermont.

Andrew gets full credit for our incredibly dramatic elopement. After trying (and failing) to plan a wedding during COVID, Andrew had the brilliant idea to just "get married on our trip" to Ireland. I will be honest and say I was hesitant at first, but I eventually came around. So after a few short months we found ourselves first at Cathedral Park exchanging legal vows quickly in the snow, and then being whisked away to Northern Ireland to finalize our nuptials. In a whirlwind day we shared our personal vows in the wind and rain in front of Dunseverick Castle, took photos around some iconic Northern Ireland Coastal spots, and found ourselves asleep by 4pm.