How we met, from Zach: I was shopping with my sister, she is a nurse and I was in nursing school, to get scrubs from a uniform store. I was wearing a CSU (Cleveland State University) shirt and when I walked in a beautiful girl asked if we needed anything. We said no and my sister went to look for scrubs. This pretty girl asked me if I went to CSU and I told her that I did and was in the nursing program. She then told me that she was also going to the same school and applying for the nursing program. We then talked as we walked around the store about nursing school and other small talk. I could feel the chemistry between us right away and there was just something about that girl that drew me in. I asked her for a piece of paper and walked away acting like I was looking for scrubs. As my sister and I checked out I slipped her the paper with my name and phone number on it telling her to call if she had any more questions about the nursing program, secretly hoping she would call just to talk and I could get to know this girl more. As it turns out she did in fact text me starting out with nursing questions, which then led to more general questions, and next thing I knew we were going on a date. Two and a half years later I asked her to be my wife. It is crazy to believe I met my best friend and soul mate by random chance at a uniform store.
Ally: I would agree with most of what Zach said is true but my take is a bit different. I was working at a uniform store during high school and one day in the summer after I had graduated, this tall handsome blonde came walking through the door with his sister, who I initially thought was his wife…oops. I greeted them and I saw his Cleveland State shirt and mentioned that I was going to be attending the University in the fall. When he asked what I was going for I responded with nursing and found out he was in the nursing program there already. When he told me that, I thought OK, I need to get to know this guy. We had short spurts of conversations here and there and he would walk away and come back and talk to me some more, like a lost puppy. Once they were checking out I had to for sure figure out if they were a couple, because I thought it weird that he was talking to me so much with his “wife” right there. So Zach asked if he could use his student ID as a discount to which I asked if they were married. The look on his face was priceless as he said it was his sister. I gave him the discount anyway. I felt so silly thinking they were married because they look so alike. It was also at this time that he gave me his number. I have to admit he did do it in a very sly manner. I was happy and skeptical at the same time that I almost threw out the paper when a co-worker told me to keep it because I was cute. I took me about a month to contact him and I used some dumb question about parking on campus to get a conversation going. We continued talking and I had to be the one to ask him to ice cream, which turned out to be our first date. There was instant chemistry and conversation flowed easily. From the start, he made me feel very comfortable. We talked for hours and found that we had many things in common. From that day, I knew he was going to be my husband.
how they asked: I am in college still, and Zach said he wanted to take me on a date before the semester got too busy for me. I was super excited because we hadn’t had a real date night in a while with how busy we have been with work ad school, and we were going to my favorite restaurant. When he picked me up, he had a playlist of some of our favorite songs and love songs mixed together playing when I got in the car. He then casually told me he wanted to stop and get some scrubs because he had just started his new job and needed new ones. We just so happened to go to the store where we first met. While we were waiting to check out he asked me of I wanted ice cream. At this point I began to get a little suspicious of what was going on, I asked if he wanted to go to Dairy Queen and when that happened he turned a little red and made a face practically giving it away but I went along with it. We then went to the Dairy Queen, where we had our first date and got some ice cream and talked. He took me to the local beach on Lake Erie to watch the sunset even though it was an over cast day, and we sat and talked on a blanket in the sand. He suggested we go for a walk down the beach.
There was a man taking pictures of the Cleveland skyline and some scenery. I said hi to him, not thinking much of his presence.
Zach led me onto some rocks where we just watched the waves crash into the rocks.
Zach told me that his mother was right about me. I asked him what he meant by that, and he said that his mother told him that I was the best thing that happened to him. He then turned me around to face him, where he pulled the most beautiful ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
He was shaking so bad I thought he was going to drop the ring in the lake. I said yes of course! I was so happy and full of emotion and crying when he asked how I would remember this. I said I’m sure I will remember it pretty well. He then said to me, what if I told you that there was a photographer here that got this whole thing, and wouldn’t you know it the photographer taking pictures of the scenery was there to get pictures of us! Afterwards our photographer Nathan had us do a couple poses. (The pictures turned out amazing!) After the beach Zach surprised me at dinner by having our families there to celebrate the big day.
Photos by Imagen Photography