We met the old traditional way - at work via zoom :). While we had been coworkers for over a year, we ended up having our first conversation via zoom due to COVID times and remote work. What started out as an informal get to know you and what you do chat turned into several hours of conversations, laughter, and a dinner date at Eastside Thai. I guess you could say we both loved to talk and found what the other had to say equally as enjoyable. Genuinely innocent get to know you dates turned into an almost two-year relationship and a life-time companionship!

Father's Day is always a tough day for Cheniqua's family as her father passed in 2015. To get their minds off that, Nathan planned a "surprise photoshoot" for our family. A couple weeks before Cheniqua's birthday, they had decided to simply have an update family photo; So, she thought. Turns out Nathan had been planning a surprise engagement photoshoot since April with some of her closest friends, mother, brother, and Nathan's brother, niece, and sister-in-law. He worked with a videographer and photographer to propose at the Japanese Garden in Bloomington and did all of the work to ensure that everyone was hidden where they were supposed to be, and that Cheniqua's family knew to keep everything a surprise. Even the photographer knew to remain calm and act like they were shooting a normal family shoot. On the final stretch of the shoot, the photographer asked Cheniqua and Nathan to stand on the bridge, he told Cheniqua to move forward so Nathan could admire her from afar for some of the final shots. What she didn't know was that he was actually getting on one knee behind her and was about to ask for her hand in marriage. Slowly, the photographer asked Cheniqua to turn to the left. He asked her to turn to the left again, as she did, she began to notice that Nathan had been on one knee behind her this entire time. She turned to face him and he shared some incredibly sweet words about how much she meant to him and how thankful he was for their journey together and he asked her, "Cheniqua, will you marry me?" She said "yes"! and there was a shriek from behind the bushes. Her friends, Nate's family, and her mom began to run towards her! And with that, they were engaged!