They had been together for over 7 years when he proposed, having first met while she was still in high school. “Mike [is] three years older and the summer before I started my junior year of high school, I worked at our local pool. Mike came home from his first year of college and also worked at the pool. We were both lifeguards so we started talking. He asked a friend for my number and started texting me and the rest is history.”

They have made it through a lot of long-distance, including Alexa finishing high school while Mike was in college and then Mike getting a scholarship to go to Germany for 10 weeks. “I remember being extremely worried that we wouldn’t make it, but we did. After he came back, I knew we could make it through anything. Since that, he’s gone to Germany for a second time for 10 weeks, living in South Padre for 4 months, and spent 2 years in New Jersey in grad school. We’ve made it through all of this time apart so now spending time together is the best thing in the world.”

After all that time apart, they now live together in Saint Louis and every Friday night, they go out for dinner after work. It wasn’t unusual at all then when Mike called her to tell her he’d pick her up at 5:00. “He is always wanting me to go for walks in Forest Park so he asked if we could do that before dinner because it was a really nice night. I honestly didn’t think anything of it and agreed to do so. When we got to the park, we walked a little ways and just talked. Then we got to a spot where we love to sit because it’s absolutely beautiful. We say on the bench for a little bit and then all of a sudden, he started saying some really sweet things. Before I knew it, he had gotten down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I immediately said ‘yes’ and the rest is kind of a blur.”

They are getting married in just a few weeks and we finally got a chance to align our schedules while they were both back in town last week! I’m so excited for their wedding day to come and for them to officially be married!