Toby and I met after college through mutual friends years before we began dating. We were acquaintances and would say hi in passing, but that was about it. In 2016, I joined a young professionals networking group through the University of Tampa, where we both went to college. At my first event, I was terrified of having to start up conversations with people I barely knew – or at least so I thought! Luckily, Toby was already a member of the group and a familiar face. We started to get to know each other more at these events, and bonded over things like our shared misery of being New York Jets fans :) Toby eventually reached out to our mutual friend & my roommate at the time, Audra, to find out "what my deal was." Of course, she immediately told me & I instantly blushed because I had been thinking about him too. We went on an official date not too long after that & have been inseparable since!

When I was planning the proposal to Alyssa, I planned a weekend getaway to the Don Cesar on Sept 13th, the day before her 30th birthday. I imagined proposing on the beach at sunset. Mother Nature had a different plan and there was a tropical storm scheduled to hit the West Coast of Florida, not the ideal weather when planning a beach getaway weekend. It was a rainy Sunday so we really just wanted to stay inside and watch football. There was a break in the weather, so we decided to walk down the beach to find somewhere to post up for a few hours. Because of the storm, there wasn’t anyone on the beach for miles and with there likely to be no sunset that day, I thought I’m going to do this. Before I knew it, I was down on one knee and she said yes!! We found a bar to watch the games and have a drink to celebrate and call family and friends. A few minutes later, Alyssa looked at me and asked, “wait did you even ask me to marry you?” I answered her question with a question, “Wait, did you even say yes?!?” To end the day, we met our families at our favorite Italian restaurant in Gulfport, Pia’s to celebrate. It was a great end to an unforgettable day.