Jay first noticed Claire at a work awards banquet and quickly tried to find her online. With the help of some coworkers, he added her on Instagram and patiently waited for months for her to accept his invitation and even more months before Claire embarrassed herself, giving him the perfect opportunity to finally reach out. After a bouquet of roses and several weeks of talking, she agreed to a date.

Over the years, we split our time between Milwaukee and Madison. Jay turned Claire into a true Wisconsinite - taking her up north, snowmobiling, and making sure cheese is a part of every meal, which, he is almost always cooking himself. Over the summers, we golf together as much as possible. We take advantage of dressing up for any theme party, sing our hearts out at every country concert we can make it to, and love playing any kind of card games with our families. Together, we have made memories across the US - Alaska, California, Las Vegas, Indiana, and Florida - with many more still in the making!

On an expectedly cold weekend in January, we had plans to stay at the Meier family cabin in Park Falls, WI with Claire's brother, Joe, and his wife, Kathleen. A hike at Copper Falls was on the agenda. Given the cold, Claire was less than enthusiastic about this and several times tried to convince the group a day in the warm cabin would be just as enjoyable. Overruled, we layered up, and Jay led the charge down the trail, practically sprinting. Due to the snow, the trails were a bit treacherous, specifically the stairs down to his favorite lookout point. After Jay helped Claire down the stairs both he and Joe were helping Kathleen navigate them so Claire walked to the point and was taking a photo when all of a sudden she heard Jay say, "Well Claire Cullen Mazelin, how about we do this thing forever" and he got down on one knee. Apparently there were some expletive's (though Claire has no recollection of these) and plenty of "Oh my god's" in between laughs and the biggest smile. Both of us can agree that Claire did in fact take the ring before actually saying yes! Though eventually that important word did make it out of her mouth. Joe and Kathleen had been in on the plan and had all the decorations and champagne at the ready for the celebrations to begin! It's time for those to continue with everyone we love there to help on September 7th!