Every great love story has its beginning, and ours started in the halls of high school. Preston was charming, persistent, and had a knack for making people laugh. From the moment we met, it was clear he had his sights set on me. I, however, was cautious. When he asked me out the first time, I politely turned him down, and the second time, and the third. It wasn’t that I didn’t see his charm; I just wasn’t ready. Yet, Preston never gave up. “I’ll keep trying,” he told me with a quiet confidence that caught me off guard. “I’ll wait for you until you’re ready,” he’d say with a smile that made me blush, even when I tried not to show it. And he meant it. Even after I set firm boundaries—like agreeing to go to Prom together as just friends—he didn’t waver. To this day, I’m still amazed that he stuck around even after I ditched him at Prom (yes, that actually happened). Instead of giving up, he continued to show up and became a constant in my life—a friend who made every moment brighter, always finding ways to make me laugh. He joined my friend group, showing up to game nights, hang outs, and dinners, making himself impossible to ignore. Slowly but surely, he wove himself into the fabric of my everyday life. At first, I resisted. But the more he stuck around, the harder it became to ignore the butterflies in my stomach. His patience and persistence began to melt the walls I put up. His small, thoughtful gestures—like leaving little notes on my car in the high school parking lot—and his steady presence started to make my heart race. A simple smile from him could make my heart skip a beat. He never pushed, never pressured; he simply showed me, day after day, the kind of person he was.

By the time my eighteenth birthday rolled around, everything fell into place, I couldn’t deny it any longer: I had fallen for him. It was a night filled with celebration, laughter, and something unspoken in the air. I no longer saw Preston as just a friend; he was the person who had been there all along, waiting for me to catch up to him. That night, under a sky full of stars, he asked me out once more. His voice was steady, and his eyes were filled with hope. This time, my answer was different. My heart fluttered as I said, “Yes.” Since that magical night—May 23, 2018—we’ve been writing our love story together. What started as a friendship blossomed into something extraordinary. Looking back, I’m so grateful for Preston’s unwavering belief in us. His patience taught me the beauty of love that waits, and his persistence showed me the depth of his heart. Preston’s confident love taught me what it means to be cherished, and together, we’ve built a life filled with laughter, adventure, and an unshakeable bond.

Five years later, on June 29, 2023, he took my breath away all over again. We were traveling through Tuscany, Italy, on the trip of a lifetime. For a week, we’d been exploring the country together—visiting historical sites, museums, and cathedrals. We’d been staying in a picturesque villa in a secluded village, soaking in every magical moment. The morning of the last day of our trip, we arrived in Florence with a couple of friends and wandered through the cobblestone streets, marveling at the beauty of the city. We stopped in the town center to take pictures, the sun shining over the rooftops. Preston leaned in close and whispered, “I love you so much.” Before I could respond, he got down on one knee. My heart raced, just as it had the first night he asked me out, and when he asked me to marry him, it fluttered all over again as I said, “Yes.”

Now, as we prepare to say, “I do,” and plan the rest of our lives together, I cherish every moment—every laugh, every memory, every piece of this beautiful journey that led us here, from high school hallways to prom-night mishaps to the life we’ve built together. Our story is one of patience, persistence, and a love that waited until it was meant to be. It was the beginning of a story we’ll never stop writing.

It all started in high school, I first noticed her because she’d sit in the only seat against the back wall of our US History class. Eventually, I learned her name and looked her up on Instagram, shortly after I found her account I added her as a friend. She accepted my cool request. I started to message her through Instagram, which started as casual conversations, just the average how was your day and things similar. I worked up the courage to ask if she happened to be dating anyone, unfortunately for me she was. After finding that out I would occasionally chat with her through Instagram. It wasn’t until later in our senior year of high school did I found out that she had recently broken up with her boyfriend at the time. Inside I was excited at the opportunity, but I also knew I couldn’t rush into it. This time around I managed to get her phone number so we could chat more consistently instead of just using Instagram, and when I felt the time was right I asked her to go on a date with me. Our date was a typical first date we went to the movies and got ice cream afterward. From then on we casually talked not having gone on a second date, she must’ve thought I lost interest. I say this because I found out she has accepted another date with a different gentleman, in my mind I didn’t think it was a true date considering they went ice skating but they also invited me along with some of her other friends. From then on I knew I had to step my game up, I would hang out with her as much as possible then finally it came around to the time of the Senior year Prom, of course, I asked Hannah to go with me. She said yes even though it was a last-minute ask. Even though she said it was as friends I knew somewhere deep in my heart she was meant for me. Little did I know later that night at prom I would be ditched by the girl I thought I could have a future with, shook my confidence at first, but in the end, God told me this was the one, so I regained my composure and when I found she had been grounded from leaving her house I would find ways to go see her. Even if it was just chilling outside her window to chat. This in turn was how I met her mom, she saw me outside and asked if I would like to come in. From then on I think the chemistry between began to build.


It’s May 23rd, 2018, her birthday. She invited me out to her nana and papa’s house where we celebrated her birthday and that night when she took me home we walked up to my grandma's porch just the two of us I took her hands looked at her in the eye and asked if she would be my girlfriend. Boy was my heart racing, what in reality was probably only a minute or two felt like an eternity to me, but when she finally answered she said yes. From then on it felt like something out of a movie, we had some rough times, but anytime I was with her I couldn’t help but feel loved and happy and a kind of joy that’s hard to come by.


A few years had gone by and we were planning a trip to Italy I just knew that on the trip I was gonna ask her to be my wife, I had never done anything like this before so I didn’t know where to start or what to do. My only reference were the things I saw in movies. The one thing that seemed like the most important was to get her parent's blessing but of course, I wanted to make sure that I was ready when I did ask for their blessing so I saved up money to get a ring and finally maybe a few days before the trip her dad had to fly out for business so I could only ask her mom before we could leave. I tell you everything is a blessing the day we are leaving I’m making sure I have everything packed and hidden that way the surprise won’t be ruined, as I said I knew I was gonna ask her for her hand in marriage I just hadn’t settled on the day. Our trip to Italy was already planned out for us we went on a group trip through a program she was in due to her success in college. So we didn’t have a lot of time to ourselves. While we were in Italy we made some friends which helped me out because again I didn’t know how I was gonna set up a way to capture the moment and ask her without her finding out. Praise God for only he could make things align so perfectly that the friends we made had late flights and were able to help me out. The day before our last day in Italy we had gone to get breakfast and coffee near the airport that our friends needed to fly from considering we stayed an extra day. The day is June 29th, 2023, we’re in the beautiful town square and we’re taking group pictures with everyone before they leave I ask if they could record and take photos for me and that’s when I got down on one knee and asked Hannah to be my wife. Of course, she said yes again but it still felt like that first time when I asked her to be my girlfriend. 


Now I look forward to June 10th, 2025, when in front of all our friends and families will we get to proclaim our love tie the knot, and say “I do.” Man, I can’t wait to see what God has in store for our marriage, I couldn’t ask for a better partner to spend the rest of my life with.