Their journey together started at their Parish, Our Lady of Divine Providence, both looking at each other only from a distance, neither going up to the other to start a conversation, but that all would change on March 7th 2015.

Stephanie sings at her Parish ever since she was about 8 years old. Elliott began going to this Parish a few years later. In these years Elliott was always intrigued every time he saw Stephanie sing, mesmerized with her Angelic voice. Soon Elliott became an Usher at the parish and started dressing more formal to mass, and this is when Stephanie took more notice of Elliott.

 It was around mid September of 2013, when Elliott was enrolled in CCD for his holy sacraments. During these 2 years, Elliott and Stephanie only saw each other from a distance, not one word spoken between the two. There was clearly something in the air between these two, but neither could make out what it was.

Fast forward to March 7th, 2015, it was Elliott’s confirmation retreat. A young adults movement called Encuentro Juveniles, was in charge of running the retreat that day and Stephanie just happened to be involved with the movement as well. She also happened to be a small group leader for the retreat. Stephanie saw Elliott at the retreat and was trying to figure out his name, she looked at the list and tried to put a name to his face and asked around to see if anyone knew but no one did. It just happened, God had it all planned out for them, as Elliott was under her small group despite a long list of names of others who were passing the same retreat that day. It was lunch time and Stephanie decided to make the first move, as she started asking Elliott questions to get to know him better, but Elliott answered the questions with yes/no responses and that was it, not much of a conversation was coming from his end and this made Stephanie feel confused as she believed he was not interested. At the end of the day, Stephanie once again attempted to make conversation, this time with a little more success! 

Shortly after the retreat, Elliott added Stephanie on Facebook the day of his birthday without realizing, and messaged her. Though this was a sneaky way of him trying to start conversation. They had a few days talking until finally, Stephanie was tired of messaging through Facebook and said “You could just ask me for my phone number you know” Elliott was in shock, from that message and said “Well now that you mention it, can I have it lol?” Stephanie gave Elliott her number and that same night, Friday March 27 2015, Elliott messaged Stephanie with a “Hey” WITH ONE “Y” 😂😂 But she never replied back. At this point Elliott thought he messed up and that was it. It took about 4-5 days later when Stephanie replied saying “Sorry, I never saw your message.” (Classic Steph 🤦🏻‍♀️😂) Once Elliott saw her reply, he was excited that she finally replied and right away they started having conversations for days. 

FAST forward ….
Stephanie’s prom was fast approaching and she shyly asked Elliott through text if he was interested in going as her prom date, Elliott did not hesitate or think about it and replied YES right away. Elliott had to think fast and started to plan on how to ask her to make it more official and special to her by doing a Promposal. They both went together to Prom, at that moment towards the end of the night, Elliott asked her to be his Girlfriend, Stephanie shockingly said “No, I’m not ready right now. If you could just give me a little more time. It’s okay if you don’t want to wait and just move on, I understand.” Elliott’s response, was just as shocking saying with a smile, “If it’s time you need, then I’ll wait. A girl like you is definitely worth waiting for.” 🥹❤️ At the very end before the night was over, like a movie scene, it ended with Elliott stealing a kiss on her lips.

A few weeks after prom, Elliott attended Stephanie’s high school graduation. Elliott again was ready to ask her to be his Girlfriend, on June 7th 2015, right before he asked her she said, “I’m ready for you to ask me by the way but just don’t do it now because I’ll be expecting it.” (Classic Steph again🤦🏻‍♀️😂) And Elliott had to now think of another time. A week later June 12th 2015 , he made a mash up of a few songs leading into him asking her to be his Girlfriend where she finally said YES. From there on, history began writing itself for the following 8 years and 6 months until the day Elliott FINALLY Proposed….