our love story

YEARS WE'VE DATED

Coby’s friends pretty much told him I was off limits (they treat me like a younger sister!), so we knew we could never be together! We first started talking over Facebook messages and crushed on each other when we were younger – talking, texting, and video chatting all the time. I wasn’t allowed to date an older boy from another town, so we remained friends with big old crushes on each other! We stopped talking for a few years in between while we had other relationships, and we both grew so much as people over that time!

We met at the Middlesex county fair in my hometown back in 2010! I was 14 and Shawn was 16 at the time!

Shawn is my brother's (Coby) best friend's (Grant) first cousin! So, when I was at the fair, I saw Coby’s friends in a group and went over to say hi because they're like brothers to me. Shawn happened to be there that night, and I had never met or heard of him before. He had long shaggy hair and braces at the time, and we both thought the other was really cute.

years we've known each other

Special dogs we've owned together

states we've visited together

to PSU, and then drive me back to school on Sunday. He was known to leave as I was going to sleep and be there by morning. :) I’m so thankful for the maaany miles he put on his car for our relationship.

We've been together for over 7 years now, and we’ve done so much together from traveling to moving in together to rescuing dogs to moving to a new city! By the time of our wedding, we’ll have known each other for almost 12 years!

We reconnected when I was starting college – he was a junior at Penn State and I was a freshman at Ohio University, so we did a bit of long distance! We knew this could finally be our time, so we went for it, no matter the distance or time apart.

Thankfully, Shawn had a car and would drive the 5 hours each way a few times a month so we could spend weekends together. There were some weekends he would drive to pick me up, turn right around to bring me back

july 23rd, 2021

the proposal

We spent a weekend in Long Beach Island at Shawn’s family’s beach house, because we hadn’t gone anywhere in a while and wanted a little getaway! We stayed there for a few months over the winter while we were between apartments, so it’s always so nice and relaxing to visit!

We had been talking about how we hadn’t been on a date in a while for weeks leading up to this weekend, so when Shawn suggested that we go on a date, I didn’t think twice! He suggested we go to one of our favorite restaurants in Belmar, and I gave some pushback knowing we had great food right in LBI. Little did I know, he was trying to get me out of the house for the day so our families could come in and decorate!

He was able to convince me, and that morning he told me to ‘treat this like a real date – get dressed up, do your hair, do your nails’ because if not, I probably would have worn leggings, haha! Somehow even with him telling me to do my nails, I was very clueless. I just thought it was so sweet since we hadn’t gone on a date in a while!

We went out to eat, walked around for a bit, and Shawn wanted to get home to see the sunset on the rooftop before going mini golfing! He kept saying ‘just go with the flow’ and then I remember telling him he was oddly being very rigid with his timing, but he kept just saying, “just go with the flow.” Again, … clueless!

We got back home, grabbed wine and went up to the rooftop! It was beautifully decorated with photos, candles, champagne, fabric, lanterns, and hanging lights! For someone in the wedding industry, I was legitimately so shocked and pretty much blacked out after that! It was so cute and romantic – the rooftop is where we would go in the winter to drink wine and look at the stars!

Our families pulled it all together so amazingly! He walked me over to a perfect sunset view, and he had the sweetest words to say! He got down on one knee, and of course, I said yes! Thankfully, they set up an iPad and caught the whole thing on video for us to keep forever!

We were hugging so tight afterward, and Shawn said, “Is that your heart or mine?” – both of our hearts were beating so hard, and it felt like our hearts were as close as they could possibly be.

Our parents came running out screaming with champagne and we got to celebrate for the rest of the night with tons of snacks and cake! We sat on the rooftop as the moon came up, and FaceTimed everyone to share the news. So many smiles, tears, and excitement for this next chapter in our lives!

01.

Binging shows and movies together.

When we get into a show, we go all in. 2 am nights on the couch are pretty common around here! Some of our faves are Schitt's Creek, The Office, The Sopranos, Mad Men, and more!

OUR FAVORITES

02.

Traveling and exploring new places!

We've been to a bunch of places together already, and hope the travel bug never slows down! We love seeing beautiful views and exploring new cities whenever we can!

OUR FAVORITES

03.

Rescue doggies!

We've adopted two special furbabies over the years, and they truly have our whole hearts! They bring us so much joy and we hope to rescue and foster more in the future!