William and Katie met like many others on a dating website. Williams first message to Katie was “have you been on any adventures lately?” Little did she know she was in for the adventure of a lifetime with this guy. They spent many hours into the night chatting online (which if you know Katie and how much she values her sleep that’s a good sign she likes someone if she’s willing to stretch her strict bed time 😂) and William was surprised when she agreed to go on a date with him. William, being the chivalrous man he is, offered to pick Katie up for their date to which Katie said “excuse me stranger danger!” And then promptly looked him up on the internet. As luck would have it one of Katie’s coworkers was a mutual friend and vouched that William was “very handsome, charming, very handsome, a great guy and very handsome.” So Katie allowed William to pick her up for their date. Prior to their first date one of the first questions Katie has asked was, “Are you financially stable?” (If you know Katie’s father George this is no surprise to you) and William assured her he was. When William first picked up Katie for their date he was shocked at how breathtakingly beautiful she was and Katie was shocked at how incredibly tall he was. ( and her coworker was right about him being “very handsome”) They enjoyed dinner at a local RI restaurant and ate and laughed all night. When it came time to pay the bill William put his card down and excused himself to use the restroom. The waiter came and ran Williams card but it was declined. Katie then sat there waiting for William to return. He was gone so long Katie started to believe he had left her and that it was all in her head they were having a good time. Meanwhile William had gotten a notice from his bank about “suspicious activity” on his card and they had shut it off because clearly he did not go out to eat often. In the end, it was all cleared up and it is now one of William and Katie‘s favorite stories to laugh about.

It was the day after Katie’s birthday and William had just returned from a 4 day golf trip. As he listened to Katie emphatically recounting all of her birthday adventures while he was away he decided that he didn’t want to wait any longer and he would propose to her that evening. They had plans to go to dinner at William’s sisters house and go in the pool with the kids and he figured there was no time like the present. Before leaving the house he kept encouraging Katie to dress up since it was after all her birthday weekend and if you know Katie you know she loves to dress up. However she kept dismissing him saying “why would I dress up when we’re just going to go in the pool and hang out? There’s no reason to wear something nice or put makeup on!” Little did she know William was anticipating her wanting to look nice for all the photos they would take afterward. On the way down to Liz and Dave’s house William took over the role of car DJ playing his “favorite wedding songs” however Katie was completely oblivious to these hints. Upon arrival William had planned to propose down by the pool where there are beautiful hydrangeas because he knows Katie is happiest when surrounded by flowers but of course the children would not cooperate in going to put their bathing suits on and going down to the pool so they had to change the plan. As Katie played hide and seek trying to find a suddenly shy Claire, William and Liz had a whisper fight in the kitchen which resulted in William just saying they would do it right there in the kitchen. Liz announced it was time to give Auntie Katie her birthday present and Claire helped unwrap the gift while Liz stood by taking photos. Suddenly William said “I also have something for you.” And dropped down on one knee. Katie was completely shocked and asked if she was being pranked. Eventually she said yes and the rest is history.