Eric and I met in May of 2016 behind the concessions stand of a movie theater in Centreville, VA. It'd be a stretch to say it was love at first sight, I mean who finds love in a vinyl apron, a black visor, nonslip shoes, and covered in popcorn oil? However, after working a few shifts together, it was very clear we had plenty in common: golden retrievers, siblings in the military, October birthdays, and a love for Nacho Libre. Shortly after that, we became a thorn in the shift manager's side, as we requested to be scheduled together every shift so we could chat and work alongside each other.

On June 30, 2016, Eric and I went on our first date to a Japanese steakhouse in which he presented the most beautiful roses I can still remember carrying around all evening. We went and saw a movie at the theater we worked at afterwards, which began a fun tradition of going to movies and saving our movie tickets. We spent almost every waking hour we could together. Eric and I would schedule our classes at the community college together, drive to work when possible, and stay up all night on the phone together when we couldn't see each other.

After graduating college together in 2021, we began our careers. Eric had a great job in Northern Virginia, and I had an offer to start my intelligence career in Huntsville, Alabama over 600 miles away. After seeing each other everyday for almost 7 years, we'd be going long distance without knowing when it would end. In February 2022, I moved down to Huntsville, AL and awaited the next time I'd get to see Eric.

Luckily, in September of that year, Eric moved down to Huntsville to spend a few years with me before we ultimately planned to move back up to Northern Virginia to be with family. During our time in Huntsville, we traveled through a lot of the Southeast United States and enjoyed spending all the time we could with each other. We traveled, discovered a love for camping, got our puppy Freyja, and really learned what it was like to live together as a couple. We grew so much together in the two years we lived in our house there, on a street aptly named Sunnyview Drive. Eric also learned to love the two slightly feral cats I had adopted while living alone, Peaches and Mango, who have grown more accustomed to his company than mine.

In February 2024, Eric and I took a glamorous trip to Barcelona, Spain. This was our first time traveling internationally together. On the third day of the trip, Eric rushed me out of our cozy airbnb, down the 10 flights of stairs, through the streets of Barcelona, all the way to the Parc de la Ciutadella, not even stopping for my fourth chocolate croissant of the trip or the much needed cappuccino. Eric not stopping for coffee was clearly suspicious to me, though I was still absolutely stunned seeing a woman with a camera right by the base of a fountain in the park. On February 28, 2024, Eric and I got engaged in Barcelona, Spain. We spent the rest of the trip basking in the glory of Barcelona, enjoying wine, cappuccinos, chocolate croissants, tapas, paella, and doing 30,000 steps a day.

If anyone knows me well enough, they know that I had already been planning the wedding before we even went on that trip. To be honest, I had bought my dress 3 weeks before the trip.

Our initial plan was to do an extremely small wedding, very soon after getting engaged. However, after getting engaged and with moving plans from Huntsville to Northern Virginia, we decided to wait and plan a larger ceremony.

Eric and I are both so glad we decided to wait and plan a larger, but still intimate wedding ceremony. We can't wait to see all of our family and friends gathered together in one place to help us celebrate our beautiful relationship, one that is too grand to even fit on one page of a website.

We appreciate each and every contribution that every single person in our lives have made to us and our relationship, whether it be a physical contribution to our lives or an emotional investment in our story.