Phillip and Peyton met in July of 2021. Phillip was stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola and Peyton was attending the University of West Florida. At first, neither one wanted to be in a relationship for various reasons, however God had other plans. They officially began dating in August of 2021, and by October of 2021, Phillip was being sent to San Diego to complete training.

While they weren’t 100% on doing long distance, they knew they couldn’t live without trying. So, Phil left to San Diego and Peyton stayed in Pensacola to continue working on her degree. Their first time seeing each other after this move was in January of 2022. Peyton flew to California to spend 4 days with Phil exploring the city. She went back to San Diego once more in February before Phil moved to his final location, Virginia, in March. They realized long distance wasn’t as bad as they realized. Every Saturday was their virtual date night. They always made plans to visit each other at least every 2-3 months.

In November of 2022, Phillip had decided she was the One. He had to be sneaky about his plans as Peyton was an avid detective. He bought the ring, made the plans, and was ready to propose. He planned his proposal to be during Thanksgiving break, where he proposed at a local restaurant called Cafe Single Fin, and the rest is history!