Road to I Do Series: From Girlfriend to Fiancé
3:01 PMI. From Girlfriend to Fiancé - How it All Started to the Proposal!
Welcome to the first blog post in my "Road to I Do" series! Before jumping in to all of the wedding fun, I thought it was only right to share our story of how we met and grew to become Mr. & Mrs. My husband's engagement plan actually didn't go anything like he planned (which is pretty on brand for us lol) - but somehow amidst the chaos he had to go through it could not have been any more perfect.
So here's how it all started: We met for the very first time in Atlantic City, NJ during the summer of 2015. I was there to celebrate Chelsea, my childhood friend's, 21st birthday. Shortly after my arrival, the ladies took to the boardwalk where we met up with Chelsea's guy friends, who also came to celebrate. I vividly remembers Joe's loud "What's Poppin!!! I'm Joe Brown," and joking and conversing throughout the day as if we had already known each other. I, being under 21 still, said my goodbyes to the group later that night and headed home before everyone got ready to go out.
Fast forward to my 21st birthday in October 2015. I had been so excited for this day, and even got a party bus for my friends and I to celebrate. I had been in a relationship that ended shortly before my birthday leaving 3 open spots, but we all thought it'd be best to have a couple guys come along to look out after the group. I reached out to several of my guy friends throughout the week, but none were able to make it with such late notice. The morning of the party, Chelsea called and suggested that I could always ask Joe and Dyamond; she knew they would be a fun time and look out for the entire group even if they hardly knew anyone.
I decided to get Joe's number and texted him to see if him and Dyamond were free that evening to join my friends and I. Soon after I sent the text, Joe responded that they would be there! All the girls had arrived, followed by Joe and Dyamond. I casually opened the door and thanked them for making the trip; little did I realize I was opening the door of my future husband :)
left to right: Dyamond, Chelsea, Me, Joe at my 21st birthday partyOnce we got to the club, Joe instantly took me to the bar and was the first one to buy me a birthday drink. It was this night, we effortlessly established a bond that could never be broken. Joe drove an hour back to my house the following day to celebrate my birthday in my college town with me and just about every weekend to follow, for over a year, until I graduated. After graduation, we shared our free weekends at whatever halfway points we could find between my hometown in NJ and his in PA until we settled into our first place together in 2018.
We rented an adorable townhome in Conshohocken, PA and absolutely loved getting to live together after over two years of long distance. Then came COVID in 2020, forcing us to stay put and canceling our trip to Europe that we had planned for that Spring. Instead, we booked a road trip through Arizona and Nevada that Fall - something totally different than any trip we were used to, which by the way felt magical! Little did I realize I would leave as a girlfriend and return as a fiancé. 
On our second day in Phoenix Arizona, we were heading to our sunset hot air balloon ride when I opened my email to find that the ride was canceled due to high winds. This had been on my bucket list so I was super bummed. I had later found out that it was also how Joe was planning to propose. The photographer (I was shocked that he had book one lol) had opened her cancellation email way before me so Joe had already known that the hot air balloon ride wasn't happening and had been silently panicking and thinking up other ideas. When I told him our ride was canceled, he told me we'd just enjoy one together some other time in the future and suggested a park or botanical garden instead before we started making our way to Sedona, AZ. Me, being down for anything, agreed and was instantly filled with bliss walking through beautiful plants and cactuses at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ. There was one beautiful walkway of cactuses, we stopped at the end and I remember feeling like time had froze. It was at that moment he got on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. Sure enough, he had managed to have the photographer meet him there and I had no clue she was lurking behind us, but I love that we'll always have that very moment captured to look back on.
It felt so special enjoying the moment just the 2 of us and then continuing on our road trip as an engaged couple. Joe knew my favorite numbers were 3 and 11 and said that he intentionally wanted to ask me on 11/3 while we were on the trip. We then got married on 3/11 without planning to have the same numbers in our date. Of course I'm a little biased, but our love story is my favorite. Like any couple, we've had ups and downs, but I ultimately believe we were meant for each other and could not be happier to have found the one whom my soul loves! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading & make sure to check out some of the other blog posts in my
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