Elena and Scott first met in the summer of 2018 at the Ice Blocks development in Sacramento where Scott was living at the time. A mutual friend introduced them during a social get-together, but they didn't talk much the first time they met. Later that summer, Scott was housesitting and invited this mutual friend over with the guise of swimming, drinks, barbecue, and playing with dogs & horses. In reality, Scott was hoping this mutual friend would bring Elena with her, and to Scott's delight Elena tagged along!

Despite Scott's obvious interest, Elena wasn't available at the time. Fast forward 6 months to January 2019 and the 2 met again with mutual friends at Device Brewery in Sacramento. This time Elena gave-in to Scott's flirting, agreeing to go on a date later that week. Later that week was too long to wait, as Elena and Scott ended up going on 3 dates that week, to Tank House, a Sacramento Kings Game, and playing pool.

About 2 weeks later was Valentine's Day. Scott was smitten and knew he had to impress Elena if he wanted her to stick around. Scott invited Elena over to his apartment for a home-cooked, candle-lit steak dinner, advising Elena to arrive at exactly 7:30pm so he could have everything ready when she got there. When Elena walked in the door, she later confessed to Scott, she thought "oh....this is going to be serious".

Neither of them knew how serious it would turn out to be, so Scott waited another couple months before asking Elena officially to be his girlfriend. Before long, Elena and Scott were spending every weekend together and Scott introduced Elena to his family. They quickly learned they're a great duo in the kitchen, are awesome travel partners (regardless of Elena's need to get through security at the airport with 2 hours to spare), and enjoy trying new experiences together.

Their 6 month anniversary soon approached and coincided closely with Elena's 25th birthday, so Scott planned a trip to Mendocino to celebrate both occasions. Knowing there was more to this trip than that, and being the hopeless romantic he is, Scott brought a special bottle of wine he purchased in South Africa to dinner at Cafe Beaujolais and had the restaurant arrange rose petals on the table. This this would be where the 2 would first say "I love you" and is why Mendocino became a special place to them.

In January 2020 Elena and Scott decided to move-in together to a cute little duplex in East Sacramento where they still live today. The fun part was telling Elena's parents of this decision only a couple days after meeting Scott for the first time! The not so fun part was having COVID bring the world to a screeching halt a few months later. But this would be the ultimate test of their relationship. After making it through "2 weeks to slow the curve" shutdowns for +/-12 months, they started talking more seriously about marriage, thinking they could make it through anything if they got through that shortly after moving in together.

There was a catch, however, as Scott had only spent 5 days with Elena's family to this point. He wasn't going to ask for their daughter's hand without them knowing him better and vice versa, and wasn't going to ask during only the second time meeting them. Elena knew this and quickly had 3 trips on the calendar to visit with her family between Sacramento, New York, and North Carolina in 2021.

After the trip to New York and with Elena's dad's blessing secured, Scott made an appointment with his grandmother's and mother's jeweler to design Elena's ring. He then booked another trip to Mendocino where he proposed to Elena along the coast in October 2021.

The rest, as they say, has been devoted to wedding planning.....or something like that.