Hey y'all! Francisco here.

We met at a Starbucks in Lombard, IL in 2011, the day of Q101 Jamboree that year. We hit it off right away, not realizing the future that was in store for us.

We had some amazing memories in Chicagoland, from going to concerts, games (especially the White Sox, Chicago Fire, and even the very first Schaumburg Boomers game EVER!), and the random trips, whether they be to the mall, the pumpkin farm, or anywhere really.

When my mom passed away, Melissa was there for me in ways that I can never even fathom how to repay. She took me in, lifted me up, and started the next chapter in our relationship. Who would have thought that less than a year later, we'd find ourselves packing up and moving 1200 miles away to Tampa, Florida.

Since August of 2015, the sunshine state has been our home. But Chicago will always be where our heart is. And since moving to Orlando in 2021 during the pandemic, we've never been happier.

When it came to our proposal, that's a whole story in itself. So I planned it for over a year. For Christmas in 2021, I had gotten her a cruise on the Disney Wish. It was where I was planning to propose, on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Subtropical storm Nicole had other plans though. Now it might have been just an easy thing to change plans on when and where I did it, but I had gotten a tattoo a month earlier that actually had the date and the coordinates of Castaway Cay on it. Since the location was changing, I figured might as well change the date as well.

As we were getting set to have dinner in Arrendelle, we decided since I had gotten the photo package, that we would get pictures done in the main hall. We noticed they had set up a photo spot in a nearby room and I told her that we should get pictures before dinner. The photopass person got some great shots (that you can see in the photos section), and afterwards I asked if we could take a couple more. That's when I had gotten down on one knee and finally asked Melissa to be my wife.

Obviously you know the answer, considering the site you're reading this on.

We had many ideas floating around, in terms of where/when we wanted to get married, but since we had so many friends and family split between Illinois and Florida, we figured why not do both??

First up, Chicago.