Brandon and I were introduced via a blind date by a mutual friend back in 2019. We planned to meet at Rose's Lounge, a local dive bar in Chicago. I was pretty reluctant to go on this date, as I was not feeling very well and Brandon was over an hour late! While waiting at a nearby restaurant and complaining to our mutual friend over text, Brandon finally arrived, and we hit it off right away. We spent the night talking and getting to know each other, and we even ended up going to another bar where I met his parents! It was the best first date I ever had, and though I took many months to finally commit to him, I cherish every part of our story. On August 9th, 2019, Brandon asked me to be his girlfriend, and it all went uphill from there! - Alli

Before I proposed, Alli and I had talked for months about when- not if- we were going to get married. After deciding that we wanted a short engagement and to get married after she graduated from her social work master's program in the summer of 2022, it was agreed that I'd propose sometime in the fall/winter of 2021. Ideally, we both still wanted it to be a surprise, which proved to be trickier than I had thought. One thing I wanted to do before proposing, however, was to talk to Alli's parents about the whole thing. I wasn't THAT worried until it actually came to it and I may or may not have mentally blacked out. The problem was that Alli and I typically spent all our time at my house, so it took nearly until the end of November before I got a good chance to talk to them face-to-face. Finally, at a Thanksgiving celebration at Alli's relative's house, her siblings were able to keep her occupied while I took her parents to the side. More nervous than I've ever been in my life, I stammered my way through saying how Alli means the world to me and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Despite my verbal stroke, it went well; they were supportive and said they were very happy for us! The next trick was to surprise an ever-anticipatory Alli with only a few weeks left in 2021. We had already both wanted to go to an immersive Van Gogh exhibit, but when I suggested it she was very suspicious. Luckily, I was an aspiring actor in my youth and wove a believable, woeful story about how I wanted to wait to order her ring until AFTER I talked to her parents, and that it hadn't been delivered yet. Little did she know that the ring was delivered while she was at my house on Thanksgiving! I contacted the exhibit staff with my engagement plans, and we had a private balcony to ourselves. With the help of my cousin and his girlfriend, we surprised Alli and captured the moment I got down on my knee and asked her to do life with me forever. - Brandon