Mike and Briana grew up just a couple miles away from each other in Franklin, MA. They met at J.F. Kennedy Elementary and continued together through high school. Although always friendly with one another, Mike and Briana were on different paths until they reconnected the summer of 2012. Briana had just returned from a semester abroad in Florence, Italy, where she serendipitously lived on "Gino Capponi" street, and Mike was working locally with his uncle for the summer. Shoutout to Facebook, where Mike messaged Briana that June, asking what she was up to for the summer. They spent the summer reconnecting and come fall, Briana went back to Rhode Island, and Mike to Maine, for their senior year. After one year of long distance, in 2014, Briana took a chance and moved to Portland, ME to be with Mike. Fast forward through lots of craft beer, delicious food, fun adventures and endless love...8 years later they are back in MA, continuing their love story!

Before Briana moved to Maine and while visiting Mike, they always made a trip to Willard Beach in South Portland. Whether it was in the heat of summer or the cold of winter, they would walk along the water and collect sea glass, constantly adding to their collection. Once Briana moved to Portland, those sea glass visits turned into grilling dinner beachside and countless trips for sunset drinks, which quickly made Willard Beach Mike and Briana's special spot. Flash forward to the weekend of the proposal... In searching for a place to stay for the weekend in Portland, Briana found an AirBnB just blocks from Willard Beach! In Briana's mind, it was a nice change of scenery from staying right in the city, and would make for a nice and relaxing weekend by their favorite beach. Little to Briana’s knowledge, Mike started planning. Mike proposed to Briana at around 11AM on Saturday, July 27. They went to see one of Briana’s favorite music artists that Friday night, and woke up Saturday morning to start their day at the beach. After grabbing some bagels down the road, Briana and Mike got to the beach early, as Mike made it very clear that he wanted to get there as soon as possible. They got to the beach, went for their first sea glass walk and came back to their spot. After settling in the sand, Mike jumped up and claimed he had to go back to our AirBnb, and Briana shrugged that off wondering why he was so antsy! Mike came back and urged Briana to go for just one more sea glass walk. How could Briana turn that down? After a short walk down the beach, Mike smoothly declared he found the perfect piece of sea glass and Briana turned around to find Mike down on one knee! The best part about the whole experience was that not one person on that beach saw the proposal. It was just them, in their little bubble of love, excitement and celebration. Which is a pretty good representation of their love story.