Smith's story: As Brian likes to say, he just showed up at my house. Really, he is good friends with my then-roommate, Gabby, and was over for a pregame. While he was grabbing a beer out of the fridge and I was making coffee in the kitchen, we exchanged a quick conversation. It was enough to leave me intrigued and follow him on Instagram. A week later, we went on a hike with Gabby and his roommate, Grant, and talked the whole way down the mountain about anything and everything. I immediately loved his sense of adventure, his genuine questions, and didn't want to stop spending time with him. Later, I slid into his DMs AND texted him first asking about football tickets. We love a girl who knows what she wants. After a whole day spent at a UW tailgate, game, and friend's birthday party, he asked me to play pickleball the following week. Quickly, we became inseparable and he asked me to be his girlfriend on October 16, 2021! Brian's story: I showed up at her house. My brother Alex decided to plan a birthday pirate ship boat cruise to celebrate our and 2 other close friends' birthdays. One of the friends being celebrated, Gabby - my little from college, was keen to pre-game with some yard games prior to embarking on Lake Union. Alex and I came over to play some games, tour their new house, and hangout. My distaste for Bud Light led me inside to seek out some alternative beverage options in the fridge. Inside I found the love of my life, the Kona Brewing Co., and met a nice Southern belle who puzzled me by declaring that neither her first nor last name was ‘Smith’. Smith and I talked for ~ 30 minutes while she brewed a pot of coffee for her visiting jet-legged high school friends from ATL. I thought Smith seemed very genuine, and had an interesting life story and experience(s) that led her to Seattle. She was very pretty and seemed like a kind and outgoing person. We connected easily with how much we shared in common. I was happy that my college friends had seemed to find a cool new roommate who would be fun to get to know/chat with at future house events. In the following weeks, we would hike, go to church together, attend UW football games, join each other for friends' birthday parties, and quickly become inseparable.

Smith's story: Leading up to the proposal day, I was eagerly awaiting the day that Brian would drop to one knee. I did have some suspicions that morning since he was adamant that we walk around Green Lake and we would see my friends and family the following weekend in Atlanta. It was a cold and rainy Seattle morning, and I dressed up a little, thinking he might pop the question. We began walking around Green Lake, a place where we have frequently walked, had many important conversations, and even had our first kiss! As we were walking around, I was so nervous that I could barely hold a conversation. About a mile in, he pulled off the path, and we walked down toward the water. He dropped to one knee and asked me if I wanted to marry him (surprise: I said YES!). Little did I know my best childhood friend, Maggie, surprised me from Denver and was taking pictures along with my dear Seattle friend, Courtney. Even though I could barely feel my hands, it was so fun soaking up the moment with them and taking pictures on the dock. It was a wonderful day Facetiming friends and family and celebrating at COMO over dinner that night. It was perfect! Brian's story: It took some convincing for Smith that walking Green Lake park on a cold April Sunday morning was better than sticking near her apartment on Mercer Island. She had a lot of questions and poked and prodded to make sure my back story checked out, including why she should dress ‘nice’ despite the frigid temperature. We drove to the park, with Smith silent as a peep. I turned on Seattle sports radio for background noise until an engagement ring ad came on the radio and she blurted out ‘367 days till we get married, babe!’. We arrived at the park and began our walk. After about 30 minutes of walking around the track and me talking to myself (because Smith was so nervous), we reached the planned proposal spot. Before Smith could get her gloves off or one of our amazing photographers Maggie could turn around to photograph, I got down on one knee. Despite the nervous build-up and these blunders, I was prepared to ask Smith to spend forever with me and was incredibly excited when she said ‘yes’! Let the engagement tour in Seattle and Atlanta with close family and friends, commence!