Abby and Eric first met on a blind date in June 2017 before starting their senior year of high school. After an exciting first date full of nerves for them both they raced to the car through the pouring rain. After that they had to anxiously wait a few weeks before they could see each other again due to their busy schedules. During this time, they were constantly in touch with each other over text and snapchat. Despite only one date thus far it was clear they were enamored with each other while trying to continue to “play it cool”. On August 13, 2017, Eric took Abby out on an ice cream date in Strasburg, PA despite his lactose intolerance because he knew she loved it and as he puts it, he “found his person over a vanilla milkshake and black raspberry ice cream that day”. That night he asked her to be his girlfriend and the rest is history.

They spent the rest of the year together attending homecomings, bonfires, proms, and attending each other’s soccer games and dance performances pretending to understand what they were watching.

The next few years they spent at their respective universities. Abby attended Villanova and Eric attended Temple University in Philadelphia. The universities were conveniently on the same train line which allowed them to travel back and forth for sorority formals, Halloween parties, concerts in Philadelphia, and most importantly get to know each other’s friends, many of which are with us today. If each college year was recounted that would take too long so we will each talk about our favorite date.

Abby: Sophomore year of college I surprised Eric with tickets to Hamilton in Philadelphia. We had the last seats in the theater and a women next to us who was very excited to sing along with the show, but it was such a memorable and special night. We got dressed up, sprung for an uber rather than the subway, headed out to Double Knot in Philly and saw the show. After we got back to Temple we picked up more insomnia cookies than we are proud to admit (back when I wasn’t allergic to them) and ate them while watching movies and talking about our favorite dishes at the restaurant and scenes in the show.

Eric: Abby stole mine. I have enjoyed every single date with Abby even the ones where we do absolutely nothing but watch crappy reality TV. However, some of the standouts include Flyer’s games where Abby was terrified Gritty would come over to our seats and one night in college where I had just found out I got my first full time job, we went out to eat and came back to her apartment to make gingerbread houses with her friends who likely thought we were taking it way too seriously (we were, and we crushed it).

The next two years were full of excitement. Abby moved to DC after graduation in the summer of 2022 and Eric came down to visit frequently. The two also made it up to Cape May and the Lake often. In May of 2023 they moved in together in Reston. After years of living apart and visiting on weekends the best part of moving in was not having to text goodnight (which they did every single day from August 13, 2017- May 14, 2023- even when Abby Studied abroad in a different time zone) or say goodbye on Sunday morning. On June 19, 2023 Eric proposed on an adorable side street in Oslo, Norway after a dinner where Abby inadvertently threw wrench after wrench into Eric’s engagement plans including inviting a stranger to go on a walk with them after dinner where Eric was planning to propose.

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. After a big YES and champagne with her family, they enjoyed being able to tell people they were engaged. In August things did not slow down and they added to their family with the fuzziest little (at the time) golden retriever fittingly named Oslo.

The End… Until the Wedding day