TL;DR it’s been 84 years, and it’s about damn time.

The long, yet still abridged, version:

It all started in an AIM chatroom in December 2004. Andrew and Tara ended up in the same chatroom when their mutual friends brought everyone together in one room to talk online. Andrew didn’t know Tara, so he instant messaged her outside of the chatroom to get to know her. Baby Freshman Tara was thrilled to be talking to a cool senior guy, and they bonded over the next few hours over shared interests like The Simpsons and Nerds candy, leading to them making plans to eat Nerds while watching The Simpsons together (this never happened). What did happen soon after was a date to see Meet the Fockers at the movie theatres followed by a stroll in the sand at Huntington Beach, where they first held hands and felt a connection. One month later, they went to the Winter Formal dance together at The Reef in Long Beach, where Andrew asked Tara to be his girlfriend as they slow danced to This I Promise You, and Tara excitedly said yes (major bonus points to Andrew for asking the diehard NSYNC fanatic during this song, even though deep down Tara was still holding out hope that Lance Bass would be the one professing his love to her).

The high school sweethearts eventually went off to their respective colleges a whopping 37 miles away from each other and continued to grow as a couple while simultaneously growing as individuals and within their new communities (Gamma Phi Beta and the Fancy Ladies for Tara, and The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe for Andrew). Thanks to Andrew’s exposure to the USC football team and a few years of indoctrination by the Skipper family, this was also when Andrew developed his love for sports, opening a new chapter in his life that he has both thanked and cursed Tara for, depending on victory or defeat.

Andrew and Tara navigated post-grad young adult life together and quickly realized how much being in your twenties sucks. Through unglamorous jobs, tons of uncertainty, and possibly some quarter-life crises, they supported each other through it all and served as each other’s biggest cheerleaders. They moved in together in 2016 – after over 11 years of dating, they pretty much knew everything about each other, and their lives blended together seamlessly (although Andrew may not have realized how much Tara hates washing dishes). As many couples can confirm, their compatibility and patience were put to the ultimate test when their cozy Long Beach apartment became not just home but also their office, gym, grad school classroom for Tara, and sole entertainment source for nearly two years during the COVID pandemic. Not a problem for Tara and Andrew, though – they loved their daily walks together and enjoyed to-go food and cocktails from their favorite local restaurants like Lola's and Lucille's as they binged quality TV shows like Tiger King and The Last Dance. Their apartment holds so much love and many great memories from the past seven years, although they frequently daydream together about moving into a home with a couch larger than their current love seat, in-unit laundry, a gym in the garage, and plenty of room for dogs and babies!

On January 29, 2023, exactly eighteen years after that fateful dance to This I Promise You, Andrew brought an unsuspecting Tara back to The Reef to ask her to marry him as NSYNC serenaded them once again. As if the proposal wasn’t shocking enough, Andrew also planned a beautiful surprise party with family and friends in attendance to celebrate their long-awaited engagement. It was a perfect day that can only be topped by May 4, 2024, the day they FINALLY become husband and wife!