It’s only fitting that we tie the knot in Milwaukee as it holds a special place in both of our hearts. Colleen pursued her degree at Marquette University. Our friendship flourished during annual trips up to Summerfest with our friends before we became a couple. We even purchased a Milwaukee property in 2023 so we could spend more time in the 414. Presently, we frequent Marquette and Milwaukee sporting events, enjoy the ever evolving brewery scene, and spend time with our MKE besties going to concerts and trying new restaurants. We cannot wait to celebrate with you in one of our favorite (underrated) cities!

If you know me, you may be aware of my terrible memory, making it quite the challenge to recollect events from eight years ago. Here’s what I can still piece together. Mike and I met at a club in Chicago named the Underground on June 24, 2016. Mike insists we met earlier in the night, a claim I still very much debate. Meeting that night wasn’t coincidence, we had found ourselves among mutual friends because my best friend Carly's boyfriend (now husband) lived below a group of three guys who sometimes hung out together. Although Mike wasn’t one of the three guys that lived there, he was friends with one that did. Anyways, I am sure this isn’t completely accurate, but I recollect him offering me a free drink in exchange for a kiss. I most definitely agreed leading to a night of dancing, drinking, and mingling with our friends. After the night ended, we went our separate ways, but Mike wasted no time texting me. For some reason I recalled his message starting with "Hey Colleen, Mike here," a phrase that was unfortunately later disputed, but still earned him the nickname "Mike here". I was enjoying my single life at the time, so I didn't respond to his text messages. Naturally, the moment he lost interest, I realized I made a mistake which lead to a time between 2016 and 2019 which I love to call Mike and my “frenemy era”! Mike's Version We met June 24, 2016. My best friend was living above her best friend's boyfriend at the time. We’d frequently hung out with the guys living downstairs. A few weeks into this new friendship, Colleen’s best friend came to visit the guys downstairs and brought her group of friends - one of them being Colleen. I fell in love with her right away. She was really cute and I liked her red hair. We were all playing beer pong and having fun. Eventually we went to River North to club and I told her I’d buy her a drink if she gave me a kiss. She obliged. The next day, I texted her a funny picture of my friend passed out with multiple uneaten pizzas he had ordered stacked on top of him. She didn’t respond, so I assumed she wasn’t interested and decided to move on.

By this point, Mike and I had been friends for three years and it was during Lollapalooza 2019 that I realized there could be something more between us. We both got 4-day tickets and spent the entire festival weekend together, hanging out with different friends and seeing some amazing shows. We have very similar tastes in music, which is something that has always bonded us. While at one of the shows, I was secretly testing him by walking away, wondering if he would follow. Mike gravitated towards me during my little tests, silently reassuring me of his potential reciprocated feelings. After Lollapalooza, we had discussed that if we start dating and it didn’t work out, it could ruin our friendship and negatively impact our friend group. We both felt the risk was worth it and started spending more time together and going on dates. Mike officially asked me to be his girlfriend on September 25, 2019 on the rooftop of his South Loop apartment before heading to a White Sox game. I of course said yes and we celebrated that night by indulging in several dollar hotdogs (RIP dollar dogs), drinking beers, cheering on the White Sox! Mike's Version By 2019, Colleen and I had been good friends on and off for three years. I asked Colleen to go on our official date with me August 19th, 2019 at the Delta in Wicker Park, a neighborhood of Chicago. On September 25, 2019, I asked Colleen to be my girlfriend on my South Loop apartment rooftop before going to a Sox game.

I had convinced myself Mike was not going to propose while we were on our Ireland road trip for several reasons, namely because I planned the entire trip and Mike had no clue what we were doing or where we were going. We were out drinking one night when Mike sprung on me that we had a guided tour of the Cliffs of Moher the next day. I was livid because I had meticulously planned an itinerary for the day that didn't include a tour of the cliffs. I was also annoyed because in my opinion, you really don’t need a tour of the cliffs.. you just go look at them, snap some pics and leave! Mike then explained that my mom had “planned the tour as a birthday gift," which did help ease my irritation and suspicion. That next morning we set out on our journey to the Cliffs of Moher arriving with 15 minutes to spare before our tour, thanks to Mike's insistence on hurrying us the whole morning. As we approached the tour guide, I noticed she had a camera and that it appeared to be a private tour. Strangely, this still didn't sound any alarms that he was going to propose because I still had thought my mom planned this as a gift and she’s bougie like that. Naturally, the weather was quite terrible with a combination of rain, fog and winds folding over us. Because of this, we headed straight up to O’Brien’s Tower, a small observation point at the top of the cliffs. Once inside, we walked up to the top where Mike had planned to propose. The second I walked outside, I went back in because the weather was very unpleasant. We walked back down to the bottom of the tower and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mike down on one knee asking me to marry him. It still makes my heart stop thinking about it, I was so shocked! I did not hear anything he said and I think I said a combination of “Is this real?”, “Are you serious?” and “Is this happening right now?” a million times. We celebrated with bottle of champagne, snapped a few pics and then made our way to Dingle, one of our absolute favorite towns in Ireland. Mike's Version For Colleen’s 30th birthday, I had purchased flights for us to to go Ireland. I got the ring just weeks in advance, so what better place to ask than in Ireland, her favorite place in the world?! The night before we were going to the cliffs, I told her that her mother had planned a tour for us. She was less than thrilled about needing to be there at a specified time. She had planned the whole day in advance already and I just threw a wrench in it. She was mad at me for telling her at the last minute and even said “Why do we need a tour of the cliffs - there’s nothing to tour! You go there and you see the cliffs.” So the morning of, we left Galway and made our way to the other sights Colleen had planned to see. There was absolutely no time to spare and I knew we wouldn’t see everything she planned. We did travel to Poulnabrone Dolmen - a giant tomb, made of massive stones. We had under 2 hours to be at the cliffs and the drive to get to the tomb was several miles through a scary, single lane road! I was sweating and anxious - I wasn’t sure if we’d even make it there alive. I had to rally to get her back into the car and skip our next landmark to go straight to the cliffs. One big thing with the cliffs - the weather is always a coin flip, so I knew I’d be taking a big risk. We get there and it’s foggy as hell. While Colleen was using the bathroom, I spoke with our tour guide - she told me it would be better to propose indoors. We made our way to the cliffs and by the time we got to O’Brien’s Tower at the top, the winds were moving fast, it was raining and the fog had completely covered our views. In the tower, I got on my knee, fumbled the ring out and say some words. She was in disbelief! She continuously asked if it was real. It was! The tour guide popped us some champagne and we took a minute to celebrate the moment just the two of us. Despite the terrible weather, I pulled off a successful surprise proposal!