“when you least expect it, you will find someone”

It all started on 10/28/18 when Natalie was on impromptu Ellicottville weekend with her sisters and her cousin Cassandra when she decided to “play tinder.” It was on that Sunday, the magic began, when we both swiped right and received the wonderful “it’s a match” notification. Little did she know that Ellicottville wouldn’t be the only highlight of her weekend. We immediately started chit chatting and right off the bat everything seemed different with Natalie. She was easy to talk to, she seemed to genuinely care about the conversation and really wanted to get to know me. This turned into us talking everyday and gaining a deeper connection.

Since we had an instant connection through chatting we wanted to see if there was a connection in real life too. So we decided to meet up the following Friday in Rochester for a drink, I was going to be in town and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to meet Natalie. We started the night at Murphy’s law and boy she did not disappoint. As soon as she walked into the room I couldn’t help but to stare, she looked even better than I dreamed her up to be. I somehow knew my life was going to be different after this point, and I was glad that I didn’t miss the opportunity to meet her. We spent most of the night at Roc City Brewing where we shared laughs and stories. It was refreshing that we never had an awkward moment and oddly felt very comfortable being around someone new.

I feel as if we didn’t stay “new” for too long, as we continued to talk daily and get an even deeper understanding for one another. Before we knew it our schedules worked around when we could see one another again. Anytime we could get together we jumped at the opportunity and it wasn’t too long after the we started tossing the love word around. Well....mostly me, as I was the first to let Natalie know that I loved her. It took her a little bit longer to realize what that was, but luckily enough she came around to realize she loved me too.

Since then we haven’t looked back, July 2019 we moved in together and have been inseparable since. From vacations, to concerts, to date nights, to family get togethers, we have been by each other’s side, through thick and thin. Life has thrown us a lot of curveballs, but luckily enough we have managed to get through everything together.

I know that Natalie is the person that I want to be with, so as everyone knows “if you like it you better put a ring on it.”

Natalie has a love/hate feeling about being surprised; especially big ones. So I had to come up with the biggest surprise and propose to her without her catching on. With a lot of help from her sister Julie and her Father I was able to come up with an awesome plan for the engagement. Luckily enough, with all the snags that came up in the month of planning, Natalie never found out and on the night of January 15th I had the pleasure to ask her to be my wife.