We met by chance one summer night at Tyber Creek Pub in Charlotte, NC. Bryan was getting his MBA at UNC Chapel Hill and had just started a summer internship. I was out with friends that evening and was getting to the point where I was ready to go home. My friend Nicole and I walked out onto the front patio when we saw a handsome guy putting a piece of gum into his mouth. I'm pretty sure it was Nicole who asked him if he had another piece because I would have otherwise not been brave enough to approach him. He said it was his last but ultimately offered to buy me a drink and at the end of the night asked for my number and if I wanted to go play mini golf some time. Our first date happened soon thereafter, although it took him another 2.5 years to take me out for mini golf (I won, by the way, don't let him tell you otherwise).

Over the past year or so, Jessie and I had been contemplating a trip to Bordeaux, the center of the wine universe. Most wine geeks (snobs) would argue that Bordeaux is where modern viniculture began, with the first vines planted in the area during the Roman occupation of Gaul in 71 AD. The region's unique characteristics and "terroir" make production of great wines seem effortless and rejection of a marriage proposal seem impossible. Given that I (allegedly) have dropped the ball on mini-golf over the years (there are two sides to every story), I knew that I needed to propose somewhere that Jessie would have a tough time turning me down. We made it to Bordeaux after ~27 hours of travel around 4pm local time. Despite the demanding journey to the land of berets and french fries, Jessie still looked like an angel. Also, she actually smelled good. I mean, how is that possible? After we checked into Hotel De Seze, I kept telling Jessie that I wanted to check out the nearby park, Jardin Public. I didn't really know where the proposal would go down exactly, but thought the park would be a safe bet. She agreed to go, but I'm pretty sure she just wanted a glass of wine at that point in time. I brought my backpack with us to carry the ring so she couldn't see the ring bulge. I think she thought that was weird because I usually ask her to carry my things in her purse. Such a great perk of having a significant other, by the way. After we meandered through the park and I tried not to act awkward, we found ourselves in the botanical garden. The sunlight was perfect, she was perfect...I knew this was the perfect place. I asked her to walk down the path towards me so I could get some GoPro shots for our trip video. She sighed and begrudgingly agreed to do the scene and then...WHAM! I asked her to marry me! After she begrudgingly agreed to that as well, we hugged for 15 minutes and finally got that first glass of wine underneath the Bastille Day fireworks.