How We Met (told by Haley):

It was Christmas break during my senior year of college and I was home in Crystal Lake with my family and friends for the Holidays. We went out one night in downtown Crystal Lake (which, for those of you from there, know that it is probably the last place you would ever expect to meet your future husband/wife - or just in general someone you didn't already know - at Finn McCool's ). My younger sister, Jessica, was at the bar before me and had met Sean while he was with a group of friends from high school. Sean was living in Washington DC at the time and working for IBM and was home for the Holidays as well. Jessie decided to introduce Sean and I at the bar. Now, for those of you who know Sean, he was typical Sean (i.e. easy on the eyes and smooth talking his way into my life one Coors Lite at a time).

Of course I thought to myself that this will never amount to anything as Sean was living in another State and I was finishing college at IU .We exchanged numbers that night not thinking much of it. Over the next 6 months we would talk briefly here and there and eventually started going on dates the summer following my graduation. Next thing I knew, 7 months later we were dating and about 2 months after that Sean packed up and moved back to his home in McHenry, IL to be closer to me (and as the story goes)..the rest was history :)

The Engagement (told by Haley):

Each Spring we take a trip to Punta Gorda, FL where Sean's parents live now. Our first morning was like many before that- I get up to go lay in the sun and Sean has some work to do. I will say now that Sean was incredibly calm and normal the entire day (Good Job, Sean!). We had our dinner planned at the Yacht Club with his parents and (supposedly) a catamaran boat ride before dinner that his Dad had won at a tennis tournament. This all sounded perfectly normal to me. Later in the afternoon his parents went to Yoga and as it was getting closer to the boat ride I stared wondering where they were. Long story short- Sean's dad texts us to let us know that Mrs. Cwynar had badly hurt her ankle at Yoga. This seems like an impossible thing to do but Sean had no trouble taking this moment to remind us all how his mom can be such a clutz! At this point I am having some fishy feelings about how this is all playing out but next thing I know Mrs. Cwynar comes hurdling in on crutches (YES! REAL crutches). It was like she could barley make it to the couch her ankle hurt so bad. I thought to myself, this is so real - and was no longer suspecting anything!

Sean and I make our way out on the boat and decide we will meet his parents later for dinner. We get out in the bay and we sat on the front of the boat. Now, in my mind I am thinking "It is pretty chilly out here. Do we really have to stay the full two hours?". In Sean's mind, it is going something like this "I know I am supposed to wait until exactly 5:45pm when the sun is supposed to set but I can't do it". Sean can't think of anything else to say besides "I love you" as we are sitting there. By the third time he says "I love you" (which is all of about 2 minutes since we have been sitting down) he has now turned and looked at me very seriously "No, like I REALLY love you" and starts standing up. Honestly neither of us really remember what was said after that and the whole boat ride (which included a very awkward photography session) was totally surreal.

All I kept saying to him afterwards was "What about my family" (he knew how important it was for them to be there). He told me we were set to have dinner with them that Sunday when we got back to Chicago and that made sense- I didn't expect or think my family would come all this way to Florida. We are pulling up to the dock at the end of our boat ride and every little bit of hope inside me is praying my family might be there, however, when we get there it is only Sean's parents outside waiting to greet us. I had officially given up hope that my family was there.

BUT THEN...after we get off the boat and say hello, my twin sister Katie comes sprinting outside (followed by Jessie, my mom, and my dad). I have honestly never cried tears of happiness and joy until this moment. It was then that I really was able to feel all my emotions of that life event having the most important people in my life there to share it with. I was completely shocked and over whelmed with love!

The Cwynar's were so generous and allowed my family to spend the whole weekend at their home with them. We laughed, we cried, we bonded, and we shared the most perfect weekend together. How lucky we are to get to do this for the rest of our lives :)

Thank you for following our journey and we can't wait to share our big day with the people we love the most!