Not super traditional, but Andrew and I actually met online on a dating app back in May 2021!  We had talked for maybe a week or two before Andrew finally asked me on a date, Tuesday May 18th, 2021. He asked me for drinks at Ballast Point in Long Beach. He was there waiting for me as I walked up to him and I still remember his first words to me were “Madi right?”. I immediately thought he was cute and I felt calm and comfortable around his presence. It also didn’t hurt he was super tall 😛 They were pretty busy for a Tuesday night, so we had to wait a while before we were seated. We ended up walking around the harbor by the boats and just talking and getting to know each other. When we were finally seated, we ordered some drinks and food. We continued seeing each other pretty consistently after our first date for the next two months before he finally asked me to be his girlfriend on July 18th, 2021. The rest is history and he still gives me butterflies like he did on our first date.

I knew that Madi wanted it to be private but in a not too public place so I thought it would be nice to have it in a park. After looking around for cool parks in Southern California I found Lantern Bay Park. I had my good friend Travis come out with me to scope the place out as he was going to help me capture the moment with Video and Photo. I put my crafting hat on and used stencils to write “Will You Marry Me?” on the inside of a wicker basket with fabric paint and I had a cute picnic blanket to set the scene. On Saturday I woke up early to take care of the last couple details for the big day. I picked up a nice bouquet of flowers and dropped them off alongside the basket, blanket and ring with Travis as he was going to help set it all up the next morning. Sunday December 3rd we woke up much earlier than we usually do on a weekend day. We drove to a cute little cafe to have breakfast and I could kind of tell Madi thought something was going on as she was getting a little misty eyed on the drive. The cafe was a short drive away from the park. We took a walk up the hill that led us to the park, and went along a little path that led to the middle of the park where the basket was waiting for us. I said some words and knelt down to grab the ring from the basket and popped the question. We embraced and a Yoga class started clapping for us and Travis emerged from the trees to congratulate us on a successful proposal.