We technically first met after a high school basketball game at Pinelands when our moms were watching us play basketball and cheer. Fast forward to my junior year of college (Dana’s freshman) when we both ended up at Stockton after a couple of stints at some other schools. My mom thought it would be a good idea to invite Cathy’s daughter Dana to a party we were having when I moved down there for the start of the spring semester, and I told her I had enough friends, and I didn’t need her to make me friends. Ironically enough as I am searching through the fridge for something to eat, I notice a Christmas card sticking out of the side of the fridge of two beautiful young ladies. I asked my mom who this is, and she replied, “those are Cathy B’s daughters” … and my response was “Wait, that is Cathy's daughter! Oh definitely then!”.

It then started off between the two of us with a Facebook message and after a few back-and-forth messages, she was going to come with some of her friends and hang out with us. We hung out a few times over the semester and started to have a good friendship building and it continued throughout the rest of our years in college together. After one summer fling and an awkward fall semester the timing was just never right, we still managed to stay good friends and whether we liked it or not we somehow still got updates from our parents about each other periodically.

We ended up reconnecting in the summer of 2012 and it started with a night at the Revel and Dana sleepwalking out of the hotel and having to call her mom, to call my mom, to get my cell phone number to have the front desk call for me to come get her and confirm she was staying in the room. We had a good run for 2 ½ years but the timing just was not right still, and Dana and I split up and we did our own thing.

I moved out to Philadelphia and found my passion for an Industry that I work in. Through that experience; living out in a new city with some great friends and 2 four-legged little buddies in Fishtown, my Xfinity Live’s “Father” CJ in South Philly- I eventually moved into my own apartment in South Philly in 2017.

After a Yankee playoff loss to the Red Sox October 9th in 2018, a drunk text message was sent on my behalf asking Dana one simple question … “If I asked you to marry me tomorrow, would you say yes?”. When I got a response the next morning, I tried to play dumb and like I didn’t even have her number, but of course she did not buy it. We started to chat here and there again and then in the summer of 2019, we met back up at Doyles and started to catch up on what has been going on in our lives over the last 4 years. July 19th, she came out to visit me in Philly and we drove up to the Bronx to go see the Yankees like we always used to. A couple summer shandy’s and hot dogs and a Yankee Victory on one of the hottest days of the summer lit a spark and we both never looked back. I ended up going to work late that next morning as Dana and I did not want to leave each other and were just laying on the couch talking.

After her 3rd knee surgery in October of 2019, she ended up moving to Philly in February of 2020 and we were instantly tested with the challenge of living in a tiny, one bedroom, one bath apartment with little to no kitchen for a lockdown period during covid. If we could make it through that we could make it through anything, and we did just so. In the fall of 2021, we moved to a bigger one-bedroom apartment in Philly. We decided to make the move back to the shore to be closer to family in March of 2022. Dana was still working as a nurse back in NJ and I found a job out in the area and we moved into an apartment in Waretown.

We got engaged in 2022, on October 11th- which was four years to the day almost of when I sent the text message asking her what she would say if I asked her to marry me and then I really was. We had lunch down at the Lighthouse and she was getting her 4th knee surgery in less than two weeks, I decided now would be a good time, so she had something to cheer her up as she was going to be laid up for the next few weeks. After our lunch I asked her to take a picture as we always do and I said to her “This was the before and then we’ll do the after” and she looked at me side eyed as I dropped down to one knee and pulled the ring out of my pocket and asked “Will You Marry Me?” with a wide smile and with instant tears in her eyes she said “YES!” After she rehabbed her knee, we checked out a few different wedding venues and after a talk with her dad out in his garden, we decided on a fall wedding at Renault Winery in Egg Harbor Township on a Friday night in October.

We moved to Little Egg Harbor at the end of February and are currently living in Dana’s childhood home! Grateful for our landlords (Dana’s parents) for the opportunity to rent the old “front house” and save money for our first home together.

We love you and are looking forward to seeing you all at our wedding!