Timing really is everything...and in our case, that could not have been more true.

If you ask Alex: Backing up a little - growing up in my childhood home, one of my next door neighbors best friends was Riley. Such a crazy coincidence that he and I never met all those years even though it was right next door. Fast forwarding a little to 2019, after I started my Disney internship, there were multiple occasions where we were both at the parks on the same day (once he was even there with my aunt and uncle!), yet we still never met! It is kind of crazy to think of all the times that we almost met over the years. But as they say, timing is everything.

We first met at the Outpost right after the restaurant opened in the fall of 2020. My parents had gone to the grand opening and after my mom met Riley, she had a feeling I would love him. A week or so later she had me come in the restaurant but did not tell me about Riley or why she was really bringing me there haha. As soon as I met him, I thought, oh he is going to be trouble for me. To my mothers dismay, it was not quite time for us to get together yet.

After a long almost 4 years, the timing was finally right. I was given some strong encouragement by my sister to send Riley a Happy Birthday message on Facebook...which he did not respond to for an entire month. I even visited Outpost after I sent the message and he still had not seen it or read it yet! But once we started talking, we never stopped. I started coming back to Tampa every weekend to see Riley and we quickly moved from dating to in a relationship to I love you. It honestly feels like we have been together for much longer than we have and it felt like, how did it take so long to realize we were supposed to be together.

On Christmas eve 2024, Riley proposed completely surprising me (I know that might be hard to believe but I was truly very surprised) and gave me the best Christmas gift I could ask for. It took a little time to get there, but he was worth the wait and I could not be happier to have Riley as my forever. ❤️

If you ask Riley: I had always wondered what it would be like to find “the one”. For until I had the pleasure of taking Alexandra out on our first date, I did not know what that feeling would be like or would I ever have that with someone?

I met Alex in my restaurant close to when we opened in 2020. There are some wild connections that we have between our friends and families that somehow, we didn’t meet until then! Alex grew up directly next door to my best friend that we would hangout all of the time, yet we never met. Alex’s uncle is best friends with one of our family friends whose name is also Alex! I had no idea about all of these close connections which just shows you how small of a world this is.

Alexandra and I were on separate paths even after we met for the first time. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, which has led us to where we are now. I had actually tried to ask Alex out on a date to Disney (which I’m sure you all know is pretty much our favorite place on earth) and I was let down easy…. It wasn’t the right time for us. We both continued to live our lives. That was until she messaged me on Facebook for my birthday last year. It took me over a month to respond (wow am I lucky that she was still available when I did respond). I used to never go on Facebook so I didn’t even see the message but when I did because my friend told me I need to check the status for our high school reunion.

I thought to myself… here’s my chance! We messaged back and forth and I asked her to come into the restaurant to catch up. My intentions were to try and ask her out so we can really get to know each other. We both were so intentional during our date that we learned a lot of wonderful things about each other. I knew after that one date that I wanted to keep talking and get to know more about Alex.

Ever since that night I had such a good feeling knowing that things are different in the best ways possible. I knew that I had found “the one”. I am blessed to be engaged to Alexandra and I truly feel complete when I am with her. I want nothing more than to spend forever together.

A&R