How we met/first date told by Madeline

It all started in September 2016 when my best friend/bridesmaid Raven got me all set up on a site called OkCupid. We put in my bio that I really liked hiking, hairless cats and old people, which is weird to put in your bio but it’s true and it sure worked cause here we are! I remember seeing Erics profile pictures on the site and giggling at his cute boyish grin. I messaged him first saying “Hey, how are you?” Haha I know what you’re all thinking wow what an amazing well thought out message that is! Again, it seemed to have worked cause here we are. We had our first date that October where he picked me up from the mall then we went to Monster Mini golf. It was hilarious because I played golf for 7 years in school and he beat me by a landslide and all we were doing was putting! We then went to Moes to eat dinner and talked about Harambe most of the night. It was a really fun first date and every date since then has been the best ever. I can’t wait to spend many more quirky dates with you!

Engagement Story told by Eric

March 25, 2018

It was Madeline’s birthday and, hopefully, a day that she would never forget. After secretly meeting with Dave and Robin the weekend before to get their blessing, it was only fitting to get Rachel involved in the surprise as well to capture our life changing moment. Even though it was winter, I was able to get Madeline to go for a walk on the trails after mentioning for weeks how much I wanted to get outside and go hiking.

As we walked along the snowy trail, I was trying to act like it was a normal walk while secretly looking for a good spot to pop the question. Madeline kept making it harder to keep the surprise as she kept wandering from side to side and making me swap the ring box from left pocket to right and back again so she wouldn’t feel it. As we reached the turnaround point of the trail, I knew she had no idea and the surprise was still intact.

Once we reached the spot, I asked Rachel to take our picture for a birthday picture. After taking a few pictures, I turned to Madeline and took her hands. At this point, she started to finally figure out what was going on as my hands started to shake and stumble over my words. After some lovey-dovey words, I got down on one knee and asked Madeline to change my life forever and she said YES!

The surprise worked out perfectly. The whole walk back consisted of “Eric” and “oh my gosh” as she kept looking at me, down at the ring on her finger, and back at me again. I’ll never forget the sound of her voice that afternoon, the sound of absolute surprise and joy. It may have been her birthday but she gave me the greatest gift I could ever ask for.