Emily and Lucas’ story started 4 months into the Covid lockdown. Lucas brought Emily to Lake Topanemus in Freehold, NJ for their first date July 1st, 2020. They hit it off as they walked, shared a pizza and met the parents! After 6 months of dating, Lucas left for the U.S. Navy Bootcamp. They wrote letters and ran to the phone when it rang his entire bootcamp experience. Lucas and Emily wrote about their goals for the future thinking about what their life would be like after bootcamp. 3 months later, Lucas surprised Emily with the best homecoming.

At this point, Lucas and Emily started their long distance journey. Throughout their 3 year long distance relationship, Lucas burned up the highways going to and from Virginia and New Jersey. Emily took a few trips to Virginia and got a taste of what Lucas life was like on and off the USS Nitze. The Navy took Lucas on a 9 month deployment fighting for our country, while Emily finished school and sent packages all over the world. Post deployment, Lucas only had a few months left in the Navy finally ending their long distance journey.

Emily and Lucas were finally together again, life back to normal after 3 and a half years of being away from each other. It was like the honeymoon faze that never ended. Emily graduated school starting her career in Elementary Education and Lucas joined the Union starting his career in Masonry.

In January 2025 Lucas went ring shopping looking for the perfect ring. After picking the ring, he picked the perfect date, April 18th 2025. Lucas crafted his plan by telling Emily they were going on a walk around Lake Topanemus, where they had their first date. On their walk they stopped at their spot by the lake where Lucas got down on one knee and asked Emily to marry him. It was the best moment as Emily was surprised and over the moon, Lucas was happy she said yes! A photographer was there to capture their special moment with beautiful pictures and a video. After the proposal, Emily and Lucas went back to the house to be greeted by both families excited to celebrate! After all the excitement they went to their favorite restaurant, Osteria, to live in the bliss and talk all about the proposal.

Emily and Lucas cannot wait to start their lives together and look forward to celebrating their unity with all of you!