February 5, 2020: We matched!

Jonathan and I met on Match.com back in February.

February 8, 2020: Our First Date

After a few days of messaging and texting back and forth, we decided we were ready to meet in person. We met up at Top Golf for a dreadful game of "golf" 😂. We were competing for the losing position by the end of the night. We then spent the rest of the night drinking La March prosecco and talking, which we both found extremely easy! I remember thinking that we could talk about absolutely anything. ☺️

February 14, 2020: Valentine's Day

This is still on of the most unexpected surprises that Jonathan has ever done for me. Jonathan and I were supposed to go out for Valentine's Day, but because we hadn't known each other very long, I was not expecting much. Instead, I got a call at 7:45 in the morning, as my little firsties were walking in the door, from the secretary at my administrate building telling me that I had a delivery. At first, I totally thought my mom sent me something because that is totally something she would do, but she said it wasn't her. Soon I found out that J had sent me flowers and chocolate with a "will you be my valentine?" check yes or no card. It was the most adorable thing that I had ever had done for me. That day kicked off a weekend where we spent every day together because we honestly felt a connection and a sense of peace being around each other.

February 17, 2020: We made things official

The story of how we became official still kind of makes me laugh, but it came about in a very real way. After spending each day of the weekend together, we had a serious conversation about why we were on match and what we were looking for in a significant other. We figured out that we were both looking for the same things and decided to make things official.

May 15, 2020: First "I love you" exchange

This was a magical night! At this point in our relationship, I knew that we were both ready for the next big step. We had hinted around at those three special words, but neither of us had officially said them yet. We had gone out to dinner for the first time since COVID and really enjoyed our time together. We went back to J's place to watch a movie, and J just looked over at me and said," I don't care if it's too early, but I am madly in love with you." I immediately said it back because I knew he would be it for me.

June 3, 2020: Our timeline conversation

This was a crazy, fun, amazing conversation that occurred on this day. One of the greatest things that came out of COVID was that we were able to spend a lot of quality one on one time with each other and we entertained the big relationship questions. We did a bunch of cooking lessons (J did not know how to brown ground beef 😅). created music together, watched a ton of shows/movies, and lots of game nights with various family members. During this conversation, J asked me what my marriage timeline was, I told him that I saw us engaged in the fall with a summer 2021 wedding. Luckily, J's timeline lined up pretty well with my own. We had just spent so much time together and we both knew what we wanted. We felt there was no reason to prolong anything because we knew that we had each found our God given soulmate.

July 11-19. 2020: Our First Puerto Rico Trip 🇵🇷

I was lucky enough to get to bring J with me to Puerto Rico in July. My family was so excited to have him and I got to share one of my favorite places with my favorite person. We spent our days lounging by the pool, playing tennis, going to the beach, drinking fun alcoholic drinks, and eating tons of food. We learned so much about each other on this trip! I learned that J does not sit still at the beach well and J learned that I enjoy reading a book in my lounge chair by the beach. J also had a special conversation with my dad on this trip regarding our aforementioned timeline. 💍

August 28, 2020: We're Engaged!!!

This was the most magical, beautiful night! J and I had driven to Houston for the weekend to pick up his new car and celebrate his birthday. We were going to a nice steakhouse to celebrate J's birthday, and his boss was supposedly going to "hook us up," since he knew the manager at the steakhouse. We walked in and the hostess lead us to a beautiful private room that was fully decorated with stunning flowers, candles, and balloons. The balloons were gold, white, and rose gold, which I though was weird, but I honestly did not think anything of it. Lo and behold, 30 minutes later J stands up and gives the most amazing speech before he asked me to marry him 🥂 Obviously, I gave the biggest YES of my life. It was such a special night that I got to share with friends and family. I was so happy he asked me on Friday because we got to spend the entire weekend celebrating 👰🏻💍

We can't wait for our big day! #ShoretobeCassadys 🌴