HOW WE MET:

One night in April, 2018, I was sitting in my apartment and I saw a message on twitter light up on my phone. It was from Zack, a guy I had known from my hometown in Oregon through mutual friends. I had previously had a crush on him for years. However, moving to Boise in 2012 made me know that that is all it ever would be, a crush.

So when I saw that message I was shocked. I immediately told my friends, because who DM's you on twitter saying, "Hey!" at midnight. I messaged him a couple times, but then decided that I was just going to leave it at that.

Fast forward a few weeks (3 1/2 to be exact), I am out with friends and I decided, on a whim, to message him back. I played the classic, "Hey! Sorry I forgot to respond" card. I knew he wasn't buying it, but he kept up a conversation anyways. Messing on twitter quickly turned to texting and facetiming for hours every day.

At this point, I was finishing up my second to last semester of college in Boise, and Zack was living in Portland. I had previously gone through a rocky relationship, and definitely did not feel ready to jump into a relationship again. The long distance felt safe. But, in June 2018, I so happened to be going to Oregon to visit my friends, so I knew that I had to hang out with Zack while I was there.

June 13th, 2018, I worked an early morning shift, then hopped in my car and drove to Portland. Many hours I sat in my car with no music playing, feeling my nerves sinking in. When I was getting close to his apartment I actually turned my car around and sat in a gas station parking lot for what felt like hours. Zack texted me, asking where I was. So I knew that I couldn't keep waiting any longer. I get to his apartment, and there he is waiting for me outside.

This is where it gets interesting, and where Zack may have a different play of events.

I get out of my car, and go to give him a hug. Then, I look at him, realizing my hair is in my face. I so happen to turn my head to move my hair, right as Zack tries to kiss me! He gets red in his face, I get red in my face, and he goes "So my place is up here!" and goes running up the steps. I stand there, in shock. I didn't think he would try to kiss me so fast, and the fact that he did, and it looked like I was dodging it, was SO awkward.

We hung out, went to dinner, and then watched movies. I was waiting the entire time for him to try to kiss me again, but he never did. Later in the night, I go to my car to head to my friends. It was then, in the parking lot, he tried to kiss me again. This time, no hair was in my face.

We had really only planned on hanging out that day and one other night while I was there. However, the next night Zack ends up going downtown with my friends and I. Then, the day after, we went downtown to dinner. Neither of us wanted to leave, but knew we had to say goodbye. It sucked, because we didn't know when we would see each other again. The next day, I am out with my friend Bella, shopping and getting dinner. Zack texts me and asks what I am up to. He ends up meeting Bella, her boyfriend Tyler, and I downtown for ice cream. He then drives out to Scappoose with us and we all go see a movie. Back at Bella's house, we are saying goodbye again (as I was driving back to Boise the next morning).

There is where it gets interesting/funny again.

We are standing outside in the cold for over an hour, and Zack declares he wants to ask me something. I pester him for minutes to say whats on his mind. I thought I knew what he was going to ask (something embarrassing, I cant remember now, but it was definitely not what he actually was going to ask). He then he says, "So, you want to be my girlfriend or what?"

1. I was taken aback on how he, from what I thought, just asked me to be his girlfriend???

2. I still did not know if I was ready to be in a relationship, or if Zack and I really knew if we could do long distance. Both of us had really only been in one serious relationship, and neither involved distance at all.

So basically, I said no.

But, I had my reasons, and he seemed to understand them. I felt so bad that he had to drive 45 minutes home, with a half rejection. I knew that I wanted to keep talking to Zack, and I knew that I had strong feelings for him. But, I did not know yet if my heart was ready for all that again.

A couple months go by and we still talked and facetimed every day. We even drove half way to Pendleton, Oregon to spend a day together. Lets just say, we never did that again because there is literally NOTHING to do in Pendleton for an entire day. That whole day I was wanting him to ask me out again, because I knew that that is what I wanted. But, he didn't.

The beginning of August, Zack came to Boise and spent the week with me. On August 10th he finally asked me out again, and this time I said yes. That week was the only time we had spent a solid 7 days with one another. From August 2018, till March 2019 when I moved back to Portland, we would spend short weekends here and there together. It was incredibly hard, but so rewarding. It made those weekends together even more special.

THE PROPOSAL:

In April, 2019, Zack and I went on the trip of a life time to the Caribbean, on a cruise. This was a partial graduation gift/birthday gift. I truly did not think that he would propose to me on the trip for one reason. One of my closest, and most honest friends, Michelle, told him not to. Michelle is on of those people who is so honest and blunt all the time, that if she gives her opinion, it holds weight and value. And I knew from her, that she told him not to do it on the trip. She had many reasons, all of which made sense.

So, when he did do it on the trip, I was completely shocked.

It was the 1st full day at sea, and it was a formal dinner night. We had spent the whole day by the pool, having fruity drinks, and playing mini golf. We went back to our room to get ready for dinner (we were sooooo hungry after being in the sun all day). I did not know how dressed up I wanted to be. However, Zack encouraged me to iron my clothes (and of course his as well), curl my hair (the only time I did on the entire trip), and even take the extra time to put on fake eyelashes. He sat there the entire not complaining at all, and telling me to take my time. HINT #1, he didn't mind AT ALL that I was being a classic girl taking an hour to get ready.

We go to walk to the dinning hall. The boat has all these photo ops that you can do right outside the dinning area. At this point, I am starving and I knew Zack was too. However, he insisted on taking pictures. HINT #2. There were two lines, one with a pretty red back drop, and one with just a picture of the cruise ship. I wanted to do the cruise ship one, because the line was super short. But, Zack really wanted to do the red backdrop with a LONG line. I didn't know why he was being so persistent about the pictures in the first place. If you have been on a cruise before, you know how expensive those pictures are.

We wait in line for the pictures, and then HINT #3. I wasn't paying too much attention, but Zack started talking to the girl behind us. I didn't hear what he said, but I turned around right when I later found out he was handing her his phone because he wanted her to record the proposal.

Its our turn for photos, and the photographer has us do all the classic positions for the pictures we had seen him do with all the people before us. We are finally done, when Zack turns to the photographer and says "Can we do one more?" HINT #4, Zack isn't a huge picture guy, so why did he want more?

That is when he turns around and gets down on his knee and proposes. I was literally SO shocked, and I couldn't even get the words out. It was after that, I see the girl was recording the entire time and didn't even notice.

If you made it this far, you rock.

So there you have it. This is my, what Taylor Swift would call, "Love Story", and I of course, said yes.

Looking back at all that it took for us to even meet, and make this work, I know that God had his hand in it all the entire time. And I am so thankful for it, and the man that he brought into my life.

E&Z

Wedding Day

4:00 PM–10:00 PM

Wedding

Reception