We're getting married!

Like all great love stories in the 21st century, we met through a very romantic dating app called Bumble. It was the Spring of 2020 and of course right in the middle of coronavirus. Both of us were exhausted from trying to talk with people online and having it go nowhere. Since we were right in the middle of a pandemic, neither of us was interested in going out and seeing people. At the time, I wasn’t even really looking for anything but stumbled across Andrew. I reached out to him (since the ladies must make the first move on this dating app) and he responded right away. As it turned out, we had quite a bit in common! For the next few days, both of us continued talking literally every free moment we had. Both of us continued to talk for several weeks before agreeing to meet each other. Plans were made for a Friday night date night at Old York Cellars in Ringoes, NJ. We met at the winery and sat outside for hours talking until a thunderstorm rolled in. After that night, we agreed to a second date the following Wednesday and have been inseparable ever since!

With a family like ours who always loves to be involved, we knew that was just a joke... A truer version of our “romantic” proposal started with picking out a ring, which I had sitting at home for a little while when I started planning the day with my Mother. We knew we wanted it to be in Florida by the beach during sunset so I sent the ring down with her to avoid Jen’s curious eyes. Next, I, along with Jen, Wendy (Jen's Mom), and Molly (puppy) had a 19 1/2 hour car ride to Florida ahead of us. Molly’s first big ride in a car but she was fearless and made it down safe and happy :) We carefully watched the weather and decided May 29, 2022, the day after we arrived would be good after seeing storms in the forecast for most of the other days. To make things more difficult. There is only one dog beach remotely close to Sarasota. And of course, Miss. Molly had to be involved! So after a 30-minute car ride to Venice Beach, We set up chairs, a blanket, and our romantic dinner of Wawa sandwiches on the beach with a gorgeous sunset. The plan was to just have Jen and I privately have this moment. My mom (the camera bug) kept telling me to get it done already. BUT it wasn’t sunset quite yet. I was waiting for the right moment. I asked Jen to go for a walk with Molly. Sunset in Florida is when people flock to the beach. As we walked down the beach I could see that we were being followed from a distance by our Moms and my sister with cameras in hand. We continued our walk down the beach until I could find a spot with as few people as possible. Eventually I stopped and got Jens attention on some “dolphins” in the water and I got down on one knee and told her that she is the one for me and there is no one on this Earth that really gets me as she does and I knew from the moment I walked up to the table on our first date that she was something special. When I got down on one knee Molly of course had to get in on the action and stood up on my knee as well. I look up into swelling eyes and the Biggest smile I have ever seen. And she said YES! Of course, both of our Moms (Wendy and Joyce), as well as Kelly, came running down the beach making a big scene. But that's ok! And the Family came to congratulate us and we went back to our picnic spot with champagne...To only be rained on as soon as we finished up.