How We Met
Although at the time we didn’t know each other well, we grew up around the corner from each other in Victoria, TX. I only really remember one interaction where Dan pulled up in his car while I was on a run around the neighborhood and invited me to one of his infamous house parties he would have in high school. After the party that night came the rest of high school and college for the both of us. Little did we know what fate would bring us back together years later.
In spring of 2015 I was on a double date with one of my best friends Chelsea. After Chelsea’s date found out I was from Victoria, TX he quickly asked if she knew one of his best friends Dan Torres. It had been years since I had heard of or spoken to Dan but I looked him up on Facebook and quickly remembered the cute guy from around the corner.
Months passed and in summer of 2015 I flew home for 4th of July weekend to Victoria. Note that the flights to Victoria are very small (we are talking maybe 15 people per flight). And, it just so happens that Dan’s best friend and his wife were on this flight. I remembered this friend of his from high school and it instantly made me think of Dan again. Fast forward to Sunday and while my dad, my brother and I were at the local shooting range in Victoria Dan’s dad walked him after not seeing him for years.
His dad ended up chatting with my dad and I and mentioned how Dan had just gotten a promotion at work and moved to Dallas. And, it just so happened that we lived only 5 minutes from each other. His dad ended up being the ultimate wing man and gave me Dan’s number and said I should reach out to him and show him around Dallas since I had lived there for a while.
Dan and I ended up scheduling to go to Happy Hour that next week and even though I had left work early that day with a fever I just felt like I needed to go to this happy hour. We spent hours talking that night and I hadn’t felt that instant of a connection to someone in so long.
I can’t tell this story without getting butterflies in my stomach every time, because I never really believed in fate until Dan. Our relationship is proof that everything happens for a reason.
how they asked
Our proposal story has two parts to it.
Part 1:
The first part started in Santorini, Greece. On our very last day on our trip around Greece Dan and I were sitting at the Black Sand Beach in Santorini. We were talking about our future, marriage and spilling out our emotions to each other. And then while we were sitting there, Dan bursts out and says “You are the only one for me, I love you more than anything and I want you to be my forever… we should buy a ring”. To my complete excitment and shock I replied, “Wait… now? Here in Santorini?” And before I knew it we were throwing on our clothes and speeding into Fira to go to the market center where all the jewelry stores were in Santorini. Side note, we had to be at our Airbnb in 1.5 hours to make our flight back to the US.
So here we are speeding through Santorini along the coastline running into the market, hand and hand looking for an engagement ring. After several stores that didn’t quite make the cut, we stopped at one store Hermes Jewellery after I noticed a particular ring in the window. I didn’t mention the ring right away but went in to see what they had to offer. The owner of the store was one of the most friendly people we had ever met. He was so excited to celebrate this moment with us and even brought out wine his family had made at their family vineyard. After looking at several rings, he said, “Wait, I have one more to show you that I think you will love”. And, you guessed it he pulled out the ring I originally saw in the window. When I put it on it was like it was made for me, it didn’t even need to be resized. Dan and I cried tears of joy and before we knew it we were running through the market again back to our four wheeler with the engagement ring as the sun was setting. We nearly missed our cab to get to the airport and were literally begging our cab driver to not leave without us yelling “Don’t leave we just bought an engagement ring!!”.
With the Jeweler after buying the engagement ring.
Photo at Sunset in Santorini before running back to our Airbnb to catch our flight home.
Part 2:
So Dan is super traditional and wanted to make sure he had a chance to ask for my hand in marriage from my dad in person before he officially proposed. So, after him and my dad talked Dan started scheming up the perfect proposal plan. Dan tricked me into thinking that he had a work happy hour in Deep Ellum at Braindead Brewing. I go to a lot of these happy hours with him since we work in the same industry so it wasn’t unusual for him to ask me to come. After showing up I was quickly confused because no one else was there. Dan played it off pretty good explaining the reasons why people had to cancel. So he suggested we find something fun to do since we were already downtown. I immediately blurted out “LET”S GO TO THE STATE FAIR!”. It’s hand’s down my favorite place to go in Texas and since it was right down the street it sounded like a perfect idea to me…. so did it to Dan as that was his plan all along.
We spent the evening riding carnival rides, eating corn dogs and laughing at all the ridiculous carnival games. As the sun was going down Dan suggested we go on the ferris wheel (my favorite part of the whole fair). As we were going to the top I was in awe, like always, of the beautiful view of the city and all the carnival lights surrounding us.
And that’s when it happened.. Dan got down on one knee and asked me to be his forever.
