Thomas and Mary originally met in San Diego, where Thomas was stationed with the Navy and Mary was attending physical therapy school. Their first date was at Ballast Point Brewing, which Mary soon learned has more than one location, after going to the wrong place and arriving at their date 20 minutes late. Luckily, Thomas was patient and the two bonded over good conversation and similar interests, including San Diego's infamous high-percentage IPA beers (which probably helped fuel the good conversation). Although Mary graduated and moved away not long after, the two remained friendly and stayed in touch.

Two years later, they reconnected through text and began chatting again. Unfortunately, life at this point found them living on opposite sides of the country - Mary in Northern California and Thomas in Miami. Thomas sent Mary enough pictures of his Great Dane puppy, Zoey, to convince her to fly out for a visit. They decided that, despite the long distance, they wanted to continue to try to see each other and committed to traveling frequently for visits. Over the next 1.5 years, they explored each other's respective regions, with California trips planned by Mary and Miami dates planned partly by Thomas and mostly by his sister-in-law, Beth.

In 2019, Thomas was accepted into the University of Miami's MBA program and, more excitingly, finally convinced Mary to join him in Miami. She moved to Miami in February 2020 - just in time to go into lockdown with Thomas and now-145 lbs Zoey. Fortunately, all the time spent together and the vast number of baked goods that Mary stress-baked during the pandemic only served to strengthen their relationship.

In 2021, they moved to a house in Little Gables (a suburb of Miami), in order to provide a backyard for Zoey, as all good millenial dog-parents aspire to do. They were lucky enough to have friends move down the street and to discover a new favorite brewery, Unseen Creatures, only a few miles away.

In summer 2022, the two planned a trip to visit friends and Mary's family in California. One of their planned stops was Mammoth Lakes, CA, a small mountain town in the Sierra Nevada range that Mary had grown up visiting. While they were there, Mary planned a visit to the nearby Yosemite National Park to hike Cloud's Rest - a 14.5 mile hike ending in a narrow ridge leading to a spectacular overlook of Yosemite Valley. Little did Mary know that Thomas had been planning to propose for months. He managed to transport a ring across the country and up the mountain, keeping it a complete surprise the whole time. Fun fact - he called the ring insurance company beforehand to make sure it was covered in the event it fell off the side of a mountain (it was). Luckily, there were no such mishaps and Mary happily said yes.