Thank you for checking out Melanie and Justin’s wedding website! On here, you will find information about the happy couple, the wedding party, the venue, and much more! Please take a second to celebrate with the happy couple and explore the website!

Justin and Melanie connected over similar topics through a dating app. When they first connected, Miranda, Melanie’s sister, was getting married and life was hectic. Melanie was planning her sister’s wedding, getting ready for company, as well as renovating a house, so there was little time for idle chit chat. At the same time, Justin was on vacation in New York visiting his sister Ashley. The pair decided to reconnect in a month or so when life wasn’t so hurried. After connecting for a second time, chatting on the app was going well, so they met for coffee at a local shop. Justin paid for drinks and they got to know each other while sitting in the café. After a couple hours of good company, Justin walked Melanie to her car where she nervously asked for his number. They awkwardly exchanged information and then went their separate ways. After the date was over and all the butterflies had flown away, Melanie texted Justin and said she'd had a good time and would like to do it again sometime. Together they planned a second date in August to walk along the C&O Canal.

Before Covid-19, Justin took Melanie to a specialized jewelry boutique in Washington, D.C.. At the boutique, couples can hand select their preferred setting and individual diamonds. First, they ask what shape and approximate diamond size is preferred. Then a black velvet tray is brought to customers with loose diamonds all in a row and presented like hors d'oeuvres. They go over clarity, cut, and carat of each diamond. Next, they ask about what type of ring setting the couple is looking for including style, shape, and metal. Once the ring was created, with all of Melanie's design wishes in mind, it was sent to Justin for safe keeping. As per Melanie’s wishes of waiting for engagement until they had a home to call their own, Justin graciously and patiently waited. Shortly after getting the ring, Justin began looking for housing options. He went numerous times to bank and loan officers but Covid-19 had started and the market prices went through the roof. Justin started looking for a new job that would pay more and secure his wanted future. Fast forward through the global pandemic, Melanie’s family bought an investment property which needed some work. Justin, Melanie and her parents made a deal where Justin and Melanie would live in the house for free, but would pay the utilities, as well as, provide free labor for fixing up the house. Now that they had a place to live together, Melanie knew it wouldn't be long until she was planning a wedding!

In July of 2022, Melanie and her friend Emilie were sitting outside at Panera chit chatting and feeding the birds. While talking, Emilie mentioned a beach vacation she had taken with a few friends and Melanie remarked about how fun it would be to go with their group of friends dubbed "The Game Night Crew." Emilie instantly started calling the others to ask if they would be interested. One by one, everyone said yes! Excitement flowed through the air as they quickly started planning the entire vacation! We would go right after Labor Day Weekend when school was back in session and the rates were lower. It was all Melanie could think about for months! We met everyone at the Airbnb, then went to check out the beach! Melanie and Justin were so excited to be on vacation with friends but packed way too much for all the "just in case" scenarios. After checking out the beach, the group went to dinner in town and hit up some stores for shopping. Once the group was back at the house, some people wanted to go back to the beach and scope out a good spot to go early tomorrow. Melanie was exhausted from driving over five hours that day and elected to stay back with a couple friends. While the majority of the group walked the two blocks to the beach, Melanie and her friend Ian enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony. It was dark by the time the others came back and we all went to bed. In the morning, the last of the Game Night Crew arrived. We helped them unpack and then collectively all went to spend the day at the beach! We set up camp and started sunbathing. All day we took turns swimming, chatting, munching, reading, napping, playing in the sand, and most importantly applying sunscreen every two hours! The day was fabulous and so much fun! As it got later in the afternoon, we started to pack up our things to take back to the house because we had dinner reservations at a fancy sushi restaurant on the other side of town. The Game Night Crew headed back to the house in two groups to get ready in turns. Everybody decided we should take pictures on the beach before we went to dinner since we'd be all dressed up. Melanie was in the first group because she wanted to take a shower and blow dry her hair. While the second group was getting ready for the evening, a new game that Becca and Matt C. brought was started downstairs. We played a few rounds after the whole group was ready and then Melanie started to get anxious about making it to the restaurant on time, as we had a reservation for an hour and a half from then but still needed time to walk to the beach, take pictures, walk back, drive 30 minutes to town, and then find somewhere to park in the busy town. Justin packed his go-pro specifically to take pictures on the beach with the group. He was packing up his tripod while the rest of us played the game. As soon as the Game Night Crew started walking toward the beach, Melanie's anxiety didn't go away as something felt afoot. The crew walked casually through the small town and slowly walked up the ramp to the board walk. The beach was less busy than it had been earlier in the day and there were plenty of spots to take photos with a beautiful ocean backdrop. Justin set up his camera while the others goofed off with chasing seagulls and taking silly selfies. Once the go-pro tripod was set up, it was time to get serious! The group started off with taking a few pictures of just the four girls, then we transitioned to taking pictures of just Emilie and Melanie. Emilie grabbed Melanie's face and was saying silly things to get a good picture. After the giggling was over, Emilie stepped out of the frame and Justin stepped in. He walked up to Melanie and then got down on one knee. Justin had a script written out, but now that he was here, he couldn't remember it and just spoke from the heart. He pulled a geode out of his pocket and opened it up to reveal the engagement ring. Melanie was ecstatic and of course, said yes!

It wasn't until after the proposal, that Melanie found out the entire Game Night Crew knew! They had all colluded together to set up the special moment. Months of preparing were finally coming together. Sometime in August 2022 Justin and Emilie had a secret meeting. At this point the beach trip details had been finalized and Justin asked everyone if they were okay with being involved. Emilie and Justin went through several ideas before they decided on the one. Melanie had already started picking outfits to wear on the trip. Justin bought a shirt to match Melanie's dress for the dinner night. Justin mentioned to Melanie several times that he would need his go-pro to take the best quality pictures of everyone and a time lapse of the sunrise. At the beach on the first night, Justin gave Ian the ring box to keep in his room so Melanie wouldn't accidently find it. After dinner, Melanie was sure everyone was as exhausted as she was, but the group still wanted to go to the beach... that's when the group scoped out good spots and hashed out the details of the plan. They practiced a bit and then came back to the house where Ian had kept Melanie busy and unaware with good conversation. On the second day at the beach, when everyone left in two groups it was to ensure there was time to pack everything up and get ready. They knew Melanie would need a lot of time to get ready as she had raised concerns about her hair and how harsh the beach is on it. Melanie knew it would take at least thirty minutes to blow dry it. However, what the rest of the group knew that Melanie didn't was that the dinner reservations were actually for an hour and a half later! Melanie had rushed around and gotten anxious about being late and losing the table or not being able to find parking when really there was plenty of time. On the beach for the proposal, once the spot was picked and Justin had set up his tripod, he started recording. The entire time we were goofing off and chatting is on camera as a test to see where the best spots to stand are. Justin marked the spot in the sand with his foot. Emilie and her brother William started out the "official photos" with a few shots but in order to get Melanie in front of the camera, we regrouped and took pictures of just the girls. Then we switched it up again to just Emilie and Melanie to get a few good pictures. Now, while Melanie was busy and preoccupied by Emilie holding her face and giggling, Justin dug through Emilie's purse until he found the geode holding the ring. Melanie is an avid rock and shell collector, so having a geode instead of a ring box was a special touch. When Justin got down on one knee and started talking, Melanie was excited and nervous all at the same time. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other in a little dance with a smile on her face. After she accepted, Melanie bent down and gave Justin a kiss. Justin was relieved it was finally over and grinning from ear to ear. One of the things Melanie had mentioned wanting when she picked out her ring, was photos being taken during the proposal. Photographs were definitely achieved, as not only was the go-pro recording (so we could grab stills from it later), but the entire Game Night Crew had taken pictures the whole time. We later set up a google album to share all the photos from the trip. Before going on the trip Emilie went with Melanie to get her nails done, they matched her dress. After the proposal we stayed at the beach for a bit and took a few group photos then walked back to the house. When we got to the restaurant they knew we were celebrating an engagement and gave us a wonderful table on the roof over looking koi ponds on one side and the view of the town on the other. The Game Night Crew are the best friends anyone could have and hold a truly special place in Melanie's heart. Justin and Melanie can not thank them enough for making this moment unforgetable!