How We Met
Our fairy tale began in the hills of western Germany, not far from the borders of Luxembourg, Belgium, and France. We both felt lucky to have Spangdahlem Air Base as a first assignment, but obviously didn’t know just how lucky we’d be! Alex and I first crossed paths, after work, at a meeting. I introduced myself to the new guy, and Alex stumbled over himself to say hello. We continued to cross paths at social gatherings and in the fall of 2015, I invited him to a Veteran’s Day Ceremony at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. It wasn’t a date, but we definitely had immediate chemistry, and we grew a strong friendship that deepened over time. Late summer of 2016, we decided, over pizza of course, that we were more than just friends. We had our first date just a few days later at the Bernkastel Wine Festival- a beautiful town with even better wine!
We quickly became regulars to the river town of Bernkastel. We spent time frequenting our favorite restaurant “The Taj Mahal”, sipping gluhwein (amazing German mulled wine), at the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market), and exploring the steep vineyards along the river Mosel. From Budapest to Edinburgh, we spent our free time adventuring across Europe in the weeks and months. However, no matter how far we traveled, Bernkastel always held a special place in our hearts.
how they asked
In the Spring of 2017, the Air Force tasked me with a short notice deployment and shortly afterward, Alex was re-assigned to a different base. The Air Force had physically drawn us apart, but certainly not emotionally. The 3,189.70 miles apart somehow brought us closer together as a couple and not to sound cliche, but we fell more deeply in love.
We planned to meet in Germany after I returned from my deployment in November 2017, so Alex decided it was time. As is tradition, Alex called my parents to ask them about proposing. After getting the “yes, but you have to convince Melanie,” the next big task was getting a ring. From a hemisphere and 13 time zones away, Alex and his mom found the perfect ring. Getting the ring from Ohio to Alex is a whole other story.
I got back to Germany on November 2nd, and Alex followed right after on November 3rd. On that Sunday, November 5th 2017, Alex took me to our Taj Mahal and then took me on a walk that led to the exact spot we wandered to on our first date. High above the Mosel in the vineyards of Bernkastel Alex asked me if I would like to have adventures together forever. I immediately and excitedly said “YES” and we celebrated by heading to Rome. It was the perfect getaway for the two of us after the proposal!
Unfortunately, Alex had to return to his new base and I had to go back to work. So we arranged to have Alicia photograph our engagement photos on November 13th. There was so much emotion going around in those 10 days- being reunited with Alex, him proposing, being whisked off to Rome, and then having to return to ‘normal’ life away from my fiance.
It was hard to say “see ya later”, but I wouldn’t change our proposal story for anything!
