The Beginning:

It all began in the fall of 2013, when we were both living in Portland, ME while attending college. We went on a few dates in Portland and found we had a lot in common (except that I didn’t like sushi after he took me out for sushi for our first date and I pretended that I liked it because I didn’t want to make him feel bad haha). Matt and I found we had similar family backgrounds and values. We had the best times going out together and with our friends making great memories in Portland. On October 13, 2013 Matt asked me to be his girlfriend, and I of course said “yes”. From then on our relationship grew and we built a great foundation for the love we have today. We both graduated from college, and I was accepted into graduate school down in Massachusetts. I moved down there for graduate school and Matt decided that he wanted to come with me to see where our relationship would take us. I’m not going to lie, these years were some of the most trying for our relationship with different schedules Matt working nights, being away from home and family, and me having to constantly do school work and studying while trying to balance a relationship and give it the effort that he deserved. We somehow made it through those 3 years of graduate school though and I couldn’t have done it without his support and constant effort to keep our relationship strong. We’ve lived in different states, 4 hours away from each other, and went weeks without seeing each other and still managed to support each other and love each other unconditionally.

The Proposal:

Fast forward to January 11, 2018! This was the day that Matt would ask me to marry him. This week of January we were on a family vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Matt had planned a private horseback riding excursion for him and I on the beach at sunset. I thought this was very romantic and of course the thought of engagement was in the back of my head, but I had thought it might happen other times too, so I was trying to not get my hopes up. We rode on horses from the ranch down to the beautiful secluded beach with the waves crashing. Matt asked to stop to take some pictures and I walked down towards the water. Matt followed me down to the water and when I turned around he was down on one knee asking me to marry him. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I think I asked him if “he was serious” but it’s all kind of a blur, before of course saying yes!

Engaged Life:

Life after engagement has been crazy busy for us but so good! We planned to have a longer engagement from the beginning because we knew we both had career goals and things we wanted to accomplish together first (and if you know me, plenty of time to plan!). We were living in Maine for most of 2018, and at the end of 2018 I was offered and accepted my current job in NH (where I am from originally). Matt decided he was going to apply for a job in NH as well and that is how we ended up living in NH. Next, we bought our first home together in January of 2019 in Strafford, NH which we love so much! This has been such a fun and exciting adventure and has kept us very busy! We are starting to feel more settled in our new home, and have been very excited to start planning our wedding!

Thank you for checking out our story thus far! We are very excited to celebrate our love with our closest family and friends!

Love always,

Ashley & Mathew