We technically met many years ago through our mutual sober friends… though Cassidy has absolutely no memory of this. Despite photographic evidence of us holding hands in 2022 (yes, really) and Facebook messages attempting to plan an event, where Cassidy was impressively unresponsive, Lucas somehow remained patient and persistent while Cassidy remained blissfully unaware.

Fast forward to the weekend of February 9, 2024, when fate finally decided to make things stick. We both had separate love interests at the time, but during an eight-hour poker game on February 10th, something shifted. There was flirting, laughter, and eventually Cassidy asking the question that changed everything: “Are you interested?” From there, things grew quickly, and unmistakably.

Our first official date was a hockey game on February 22, followed by many, many more. Adventures soon followed: a road trip to Santa Cruz (where Lucas quietly kept the rocks Cassidy collected in his pocket), flying to Kentucky and driving cross-country, visiting the Petrified Forest, traveling to Texas, camping, and countless everyday moments in between. From the very beginning, Lucas showed up—bringing flowers to our first hangout, making sure Cassidy always had what she needed, and loving her with steady care.

By September 2024, something had shifted. While there wasn’t one perfect “aha” moment, there was clarity. When we briefly went our separate ways, it became impossible to ignore what we already knew: life simply didn’t make sense without each other. Lucas moved in that November, and everything felt like home.

In August 2025, Cassidy met Lucas’s parents in Virginia, with trips to Washington, D.C. and Virginia Beach... another chapter in a relationship that had always been filled with big conversations, especially about marriage. So when Lucas proposed on December 26, 2025, outside a cozy cabin in Idyllwild, California, it felt exactly right. Cassidy expected it to happen that weekend… just not that day. The next day, we went on a long hike, giddy and completely certain that forever had officially begun.

From forgotten first meetings to unforgettable adventures, we are endlessly grateful for the love, laughter, and people who brought us here—and we can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.