We first met in the streets of New York City with the help of Bumble in the Winter of 2019. Unfortunately, it was Emily's first year as a school principal and Brendon's first year as a corporate lawyer. Brendon would try to meet for drinks at 10pm on a Friday night - way past Emily's bedtime. After two dates and very conflicting schedules, it fizzled out.

About six months and a global pandemic later, Emily's good friend, Elyssa, was hyping up Emily to start dating more seriously again. Emily's biggest argument was "But first dates are so boring, and I have so little time. Why would I spend my limited time with boring men?" Elyssa countered with hard evidence, referencing Brendon and how much fun Emily had with him: "But what about that nice lawyer from Florida?" However, Emily had too much pride, nor had she saved Brendon's phone number. A few hours later, Brendon texted Emily asking to take her to dinner, humbly ending the message with "BTW, this is Brendon." This moment is hereinafter referred to as the "Original Conjuring."

From the Original Conjuring in August 2020 through today, we have loved building our life together in New York City and traveling to new places around the world.

For one of those adventures, we traveled to Italy in the Summer of 2024. We came back from the trip with a lot of great memories together. Most of the memories involve pizza, but our favorite memory of all is the reason you're likely reading this story: Our Engagement! Brendon proposed to Emily in San Gimignano in Tuscany, Italy, with a harpist and private chef and beautiful views of the town and city.

We are excited to celebrate our journey and start the next chapter of our lives together with our closest loved ones at our sides!