Our Story

Buckle up people….it’s a long one. Our story was actually published on How We Met so I’m basically copying and pasting it here!

Dress (I can’t find the exact one anymore but this is the brand!) // Romper (similar)

The month before I started college in 2012 I randomly, sporadically applied online for a job to work as a princess for Disney World (even though I had no real intentions to move to Florida since I was about to begin college in my home state at Seattle Pacific University). Within a few weeks I had several interviews and sent in various photos and they offered me a position to come work in Florida! CRAZY! Although that was my DREAM, I was 18 and a homebody and asked them to please let me know if something ever opened up for me in Disneyland in California instead. Fast-forward to the end of October where I got the call, the job offer, and quickly made the decision to pack up all of my things and move all by myself to Orange County to start my dream job in December! Once I moved and started working, I also wanted to continue my schooling so I began attending Biola University where I jumped from originally being a pre-med student into business.

Dress (seriously?! I can’t find these exact dresses but it’s AQUA & this one’s similar)

Little did I know that would also be my only semester as a business student but I’m sure glad it was. I was required to take macroeconomics that semester and would always get to class early because of my schedule. For weeks I sat behind a tall, lean guy who also got there early and would watch soccer games on his laptop before class. After about a month, I decided one day to move my seat up and sit next to him and try to sound like I knew all about soccer (I think I obviously impressed him).

We ended up spending the whole three-hour class writing funny notes to each other and trying our best to keep our laughter silent. At the end of that class he asked for my number but for SOME REASON I said no!! But I did let him follow my Instagram. A few months went by and our friendship slowly progressed into something more romantic (I definitely liked him first). He took me out to dinner for our first “real” date and brought me red roses. Then we started dating June 7, 2013.

Fast forward to July 2016. We had a trip planned in July for Alec and his two siblings to fly from Orange County up to my home near Seattle, WA. On Saturday July 9th, we had already pre-planned to go eat lunch at the Space Needle since his siblings had never been to Seattle and we wanted to do something special! While I was busy getting ready (and already slightly suspicious that something special could possibly be happening at the Space Needle), my mom told me we were “going to a BBQ that night and totally forgot to pick up hamburger buns and it was urgent and we were going straight there after the Space Needle”. Ummmmmm…..No. I tried to fight her on it because I was in the middle of getting ready for our nice lunch. Reluctantly I finally said okay and Alec agreed to go with me. At first I thought Alec might be trying to get me out of the house for something sneaky but once he agreed to come with me, that idea flew out of my head. I rushed to the store and headed straight for the buns even though Alec wanted to look around a bit. Like, could we not right now?!

I was in a rush to get home and finish curling my hair!! So we finally pulled back up at my house and I rushed around the side of our house to go back inside and I am stopped in my tracks. There was romantic music playing and a long pathway of red rose petals and candles leading around to the front of my house on the Puget Sound. In that moment I knew exactly what was about to happen and I couldn’t believe my family and Alec’s two siblings had hurried while we were at the store to set this all up. I started crying of course, but like, cute tears, just as Alec came up next to me with tears in his eyes as well. We were both staring at each other with tears in our eyes so I said to him, “Do what you need to do”. I can’t believe I said that as he was about to propose to me!! (Now we laugh and say that all the time!) We walked down the rose path together and he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him after telling me how blessed he is to have found his best friend in his economics class. We hugged and cried and popped champagne and slow danced to ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love With You’ (which ended up being our first dance at our wedding too!).

Everyone had already left in our boat before we returned from the store so that we could be alone for the proposal so we Facetimed them to share the exciting news and we headed off in the car to the Space Needle to go celebrate. I kept trying to reach his parents but they said they were in a church meeting and would call us soon. When we arrived, we were of course greeted by my parents, my brother, and his siblings and just as I sneakily suspected, his parents came running over to surprise me!

They had flown up from Huntington Beach to be there to celebrate with us! Besides actually getting engaged though, my favorite part of the story is that the Saturday before the proposal, Alec flew from Orange County up to Seattle just for the afternoon so that he could meet with my dad in person to ask for his blessing in marriage. He had planned to leave in the morning and have a nice lunch with my dad before heading home in the evening but his flight was delayed by FOUR HOURS so Alec and my dad met up at a little cafe inside the SeaTac airport for this momentous conversation!! Seriously, like a movie!! Alec is so romantic and thoughtful and I love him with my whole heart and I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I said “YES”!!!