Patrick and I met a day before this photo was taken. We got paired together to walk down the aisle at our best friend, Briana and Jose Negron's wedding. Now, we get to do it all over again on our own wedding day. That night we stayed up until 4 am talking about the most random things you could think of, including astronomy and looking at the stars through an app I had on my phone lol. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it's true. We even shared our first kiss that night.

I was living in Los Angeles at the time and had to fly back after the wedding. We stayed in contact for months until I was finally back on the East Coast for my friend Tori's wedding in November. I ended up surprising Patrick at his house during that same trip and we went out on our first date at Mario's in Shadyside with a few of our friends.

After that short weekend trip in November, I had to go back home to LA once again. It was a hard goodbye, but I knew I was going to be seeing him in about a month when I came home for Christmas to see my family. 12/22/21 was when we made it official after a lovely evening at The Hofbrahaus and walking around Market Square. A few days later was Christmas Eve. I was supposed to spend it with my family, but everyone unfortunately got Covid. Patrick refused to let me spend Christmas alone and came to pick me up, no questions asked. That meant I had to meet his family for the first time on a whim. I was so nervous, but they were so welcoming and the kindest people. I wouldn't trade that Christmas for anything. The next day he told me he loved me for the first time, and you can imagine the butterflies that filled my entire body.

We then spent New Year's together where I met a bunch of his friends. They were all so kind and welcoming and are now some of my closest friends today. A few days later, we ended up going on our first trip together to Bar Harbor, Maine. We picked this spot because we wanted to go to a national park and Acadia was the easiest place to get to in the dead of winter. It also happens to be a place where my grandparents would visit all of the time, and we found that out after we had already booked the trip! We were trapped inside for a lot of it due to a blizzard, but we got out and explored as much as we could. It was breathtakingly beautiful. However, the trip sadly came to an end after a few short days and we both cried at the airport saying our goodbyes. For some reason, this one was harder than the last, probably because we knew we wouldn't be seeing each other for a few months after spending every second together for the last 20 days.

In February 2022, I moved from LA to be closer to my friends and family, and of course, Patrick. ❤️

That summer, we made our way to New Jersey where Patrick met my parents and brother for the first time. I showed him my favorite spots in Cape May and Wildwood, and at some point on this trip, we went to a beach bar that doubled as a wedding venue, where we both brought up the idea of getting married on the beach. Now, we're making that dream come true with all of you!

There were a few months in between where we continued to go on plenty more adventures, but I'll save you all the details. Then, in September we went on vacation to the Outerbanks with both of our families. Patrick planned all along to propose on this trip and it could not have been any more perfect. It all circles back to the second night we met when we were talking about the stars. However, this time we were actually looking at them and not through an app on my phone lol. The sky was so clear with no light pollution whatsoever. I looked up in the night sky to see the biggest shooting star I ever saw right as we were talking about Patrick's late father. Right then and there was when he knew it would be the perfect time to propose, and he was right. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.