Our story started ten years ago at 8 Seconds, a country line dancing bar in Gainesville, Florida. We made eye contact from across the bar and slowly made our way towards each other. We danced together for a few songs and we realized we were both from Tampa and grew up 15 minutes from each other. Sadly, Neil left without asking for my number and I was bummed, but I did go home and tweet a heart eyes emoji just in case he found my Twitter. Six months later, Paige and I were eating dinner at the Reitz Union and Neil and I spotted each other across the dining hall. Neil stared at me for the rest of that dinner while I was trying to tell Paige that the boy I danced with at 8 Seconds who didn’t ask for my number was looking at me without my lips moving so he wouldn’t see that we were talking about him. We got up to leave and he walked over to me and said “You probably don’t remember me, but we danced together a few months ago at 8 Seconds and I really regret not getting your number. Could I have it now?” We dated for a few months but life got in the way and it wasn't our time yet. Fast forward two years and I’m waiting for Christina to finish a marketing exam so we can call a ride home. I think that was my second or third exam of the week and things were rough. I was sitting on the floor when Neil walked past me and said “Hi.” I cringed because I looked *so terrible* and Neil looked so cute in his UF Football letterman jacket. We caught up for a bit while I waited for Christina to finish the exam. Christina then came out of the exam and the three of us chatted until our ride came to pick us up. I got in the car and Christina immediately said something like “who was that and you must text him right now!” I laughed and broke literally every rule in the dating book because I then texted Neil and asked him to “grab a drink to catch up.” After a few months of getting to know each other again, Neil kissed me in the Publix parking lot while I was on a break from work. I almost immediately left for my Publix internship in Lakeland and Neil was staying up at UF for the summer so that was our first “long distance” stint. I fell so in love with him that summer and the rest is history. Seven years later, we have been through college graduations, NFL tryouts, a master’s program, law school, getting a puppy, dental school, getting a big girl law job, long distance, and so much more. Neil and I always had these big career aspirations, but somehow we figured out how to put each other first and chase our dreams at the same time. We have gotten each other through some of the toughest moments of our life and I’m grateful that we did it together. It may have taken “meeting” three times, but I wouldn’t trade our story for the world. We are so excited to get married and start this next chapter of our life. We hope you can celebrate with us on December 9, 2023!

If there was one thing I knew I wanted out of getting engaged to Nicole, it was that I wanted to surprise her. Nicole is my favorite person, and I love her with my whole heart, but she has a habit of sabotaging surprises for herself. She knew I wanted to marry her; I had made that abundantly clear throughout our 6 years of dating. But what I also made clear to her was that “no one was going to know,” how, where, when etc. I also knew that I wanted our engagement to be special and unique. Nicole and I started doing escape rooms in early 2021 and, like the big nerds we are, quickly fell in love with this puzzle solving activity. Nicole and I did an escape room with my family during Christmas break of 2021, and after my mom and I looked at each other and realized that I should propose in an escape room. Originally, my dreamer self decided I was going to build it myself, but quickly that broke the budget, so back to the drawing board I went. One weekend in April, my parents and I went looking for the right room, and we found it in Downtown Tampa at The Great Escape Room. “Nana’s Forgotten Gift” a Christmas themed room centered about delivering Nana’s present under the tree. My family and I tested the room out and decided it was perfect. This is where I broke my rule of “no one’s going to know” and employed the help of Christina Marchena. Christina is a big part of our relationship because she is basically the reason that Nicole and I started dating, as she encouraged Nicole to text me first to go out for a drink back at UF. She has always been a great friend and an important person in our life, so I knew she would be perfect (and keep my secret). Luckily, we had already planted the seed in Nicole’s mind that an escape room sounded like a fun double date idea months before. In addition to Christina, I continued breaking my own rule and recruited my parents and Aunt Janna, and Nicole’s mom Sheila. Sheila also organized some of Nicole’s family being there after for an extra surprise. When the big day finally arrived, I knew it was right because my excitement was through the roof and I started telling all my friends and faculty at school, smiling ear to ear, letting everyone know that today I was going to ask the love of my life to marry me. Everything was all set and going to plan, but what I could not anticipate was showing up to Nicole’s apartment to find her crying about work. I did my best to reassure her that the night was bound to get better. I dried the tears from her eyes and off we went. Since I had played the room before with my family, I knew the room’s final key was locked within a box to which the combination was LOVE. That’s where I hid a gift tag that said “To Nicole. From Neil. you hold the key to my heart.” Of course the LOVE lock would be malfunctioning, sending me into a panic of if I could get it open. Luckily I was able to figure it out, which gave Christina enough time to position herself perfectly to film the whole thing. As I finally opened the box up and read the note aloud, all Nicole could do was look at me in shock as I read the note, uttering the same phrase over and over “what are you doing?!” The final key unlocked the closet door which revealed a Christmas tree with presents all under it and a banner that read “Will you Merry Me?” with the E crossed out to an A. At that point, I reached under the tree and pulled out a box and began my nervous speech (which Nicole confessed afterwards that she did not remember a single word). Halfway through, she realized our families had snuck in the room and was even more surprised. And right after that, before I knew it, I was down on one knee asking my best friend to marry me. All I can say was that despite some minor hiccups along the way, I got everything I wanted: she was surprised and she said yes to a lifetime with me.