Our story began back in 2016 after a night out with mutual friends from our rivalry hometowns, Ansonia and Derby, CT. We were all out at our favorite spot, The Hops Company, when we first hit it off. Having crossed each others paths one or two times throughout high school and college and not thinking much of it, we both never expected that night to be the first of forever. Although our love story didn't start off with an initial Hallmark movie spark, it was a summer filled with many memories and of course, love. Throughout the last 5 years together, we've been each others' backbone. We've laughed, cried, celebrated, and mourned. I was amazed at how quickly Kyle's family welcomed me in, and mine him. I look back now and can't remember a time any of us were strangers. Ronny (Kyle's dad) always referred to me as "sunshine" and his "daughter in law" even in the first year of our relationship. It seems that he knew we'd get to this day even before we did. We've always loved adventuring together. From getting stuck in a snow storm and sleeping in a Walmart parking lot in the Poconos to spending a weekend off the grid in a tiny house in Vermont, no place is ever too rustic. We love to find new breweries and wineries or find a new spot for tent camping. We know as our story continues these experiences will always be the things that bring us closer together. In 2020 we became first time home buyers, leaving The Valley and planting our roots in Wallingford, CT. Although it was stressful (stressful is an understatement), we remodeled our old three story multi-family income property. Living together only brought us closer and it is then that Kyle says he knew he wanted to marry me. Once we were settled in, our little family grew by 4 more paws. Our cat, Austin, became a big sister, and we adopted our dog, Willow, in October. We have created such a great story so far, and now we welcome you all to help celebrate making our love official. #LETSGETREADYTORUSSELL

After having to reschedule due to COVID-19, Kyle and I were very excited to take a vacation and visit my family down in Winter Garden, Florida. Since we hadn't been able to visit in over a year, we planned on taking some professional family photos together. Fast forward to the day of the photo shoot, where we went to a lake with beautiful Weeping Willow trees and tall grass, creating the perfect back drop for our pictures. After taking turns doing single and family shots, me and Kyle began getting some of just the two of us. While taking direction from Jared, our favorite photographer, we were positioned side by side looking in opposite directions (in the photos you can even see Kyle reaching for the ring in his pocket!). In the next moment Kyle dropped down to one knee and said his short and sweet speech asking me to be his wife. As you can see in the photos, this came as a complete surprise to me. I could not contain my excitement and (clearly) my happy tears. Kyle ended up being so nervous, he actually put the ring onto my pointer finger instead of the ring finger! But, in that moment, everything was perfect. We snapped some more pictures after upgrading from boyfriend and girlfriend to fiancés, and of course my step-mom, Sue, was ready with all the decorations right away. After telling all our friends and family back home, we went out to enjoy our first night as an engaged couple! Head over to the Photos tab to see the events unfold.