The Wedding of Emily Mize & Charles Smith Friday, July 2, 2021 5:00 PM Church of the Ascension 9510 w. 127th Street Overland Park, KS 66213 Black Tie Optional Adults Only Reception to follow at the Madrid Theatre Madrid Theatre 3810 Main Street Kansas City, MO 64111

We both worked at Elite Sports Medicine in different departments, but would see each from time to time. One day I complimented her shoes (Nikes, obviously). We started following each other on Instagram and I posted about my gym (that she used to go to) and Chipotle (which we both love). Emily replied to my stories and after a couple of DM's, we quickly realized how much we have in common including a shared love for the newly released movie/musical The Greatest Showman (and all musicals for that matter). We started texting and actually speaking to each other at work and getting to know each other. We soon had our first date which started our ongoing weekly tradition of "Wednesday's with Chaz." ... and BOOM. Here we are!

Thanks to COVID-19, the proposal was a little tricky and late but somehow I was able to pull it off. Since we have date night every Wednesday, this was supposed to happen on a Wednesday, but since it was going to rain it was on Tuesday, April 28th, 2020. The Friday before, I met with a photographer and mapped out the place for me to ask the big question. I told Emily that I was doing something for work (lie). On Monday, I had my boss call me at 5:30pm when I knew we would be eating dinner and he invited me to Centennial Park for a cookout with his wife (lie). Tuesday comes and I actually had to see her over lunch because we had the inspection done on our new house. I had to keep my cool. Later, I picked her up from work, took her to park and there was a slight obstacle. What originally was supposed to be a 1 minute walk turned into an 8 minute walk due to construction. So what did I do? Lie... for 8 whole minutes which was nerve racking! Finally, we get to the spot and I popped the question in the middle of the park. Afterwards, the dogs came running over and we had Emily's friend, Laurie, Facetime Emily's family. They were all wearing WEDDING DRESSES AND TUXEDOS. They were able to watch the whole thing from Kansas City. My brother had the whole thing on Facebook Live where my family could see it too. It was a beautiful moment and most importantly, I could FINALLY stop lying! Afterwards we got a pizza from our favorite pizza place since all the restaurants were closed for dine in due to COVID-19. We went home and enjoyed our pizza while we called our loved ones and shared the exciting news!