Despite living less than a mile apart at a small university for two years, we somehow never managed to cross paths. It took signing up for the same summer study abroad after our sophomore year for us to finally meet - in Prague! We spent 6 weeks traversing eastern Europe together (with our travel group), developing huge crushes on one another the whole time. We shared our first kiss the night before we left to go home for the rest of the summer, spent the whole summer talking, and started dating the moment we set foot back on campus to start our junior year. The rest is history!

After finishing his exams in the fall of 2019, Ellis decided that we should spend a full day together doing all of our favorite things. Since finals are so intense and stressful in law school, it had been a few weeks since we’d been able to go out or spend much quality time, so Jenna took the day off of work one Thursday and Ellis planned our perfect day. We went to our favorite cafe for breakfast, which was the first place we ate in Chapel Hill after Ellis committed there for law school; a cat cafe on Franklin street that we had passed probably a hundred times, always saying “we’ve gotta try that place” (anyone who knows us can attest to our love for cats); then back home for a brief rest before heading to a local garden followed by drinks and dinner. After a big breakfast, Jenna was definitely ready for a nap, and almost asked to skip the garden portion of the day so she could lay down. Thank goodness she didn’t, and we proceeded to Duke Gardens right on time. When we got there, we headed straight for the heart of the garden - a gazebo on top of a hill with Greek theater-style steps leading up to it, filled with greenery and flowers. We entered at the bottom of the steps, and slowly started climbing the stairs up towards the Gazebo. The closer we got, Jenna started to notice flower petals on the ground, and her favorite flowers lining the stairs - orchids. When we got to the top, Ellis got down on one knee and proposed. Honestly, neither of us totally remember what we said-- we were both just so happy in the moment. After that, we headed to our favorite bar for some celebratory drinks in a private room, followed by dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant. At each location, there were rose petals and an orchid on the table awaiting us.