Zach and Sarah met online through the online dating app Hinge on March 20th, 2024. Sarah kicked things off by sending Zach a digital rose on the app. The two quickly hit it off and began exchanging messages. After a month of regular contact, the two decided to meet up.

Their first date was on April 27th, 2024. The initial plan for their first date was for the two to meet at the Holyoke Mall at the Round1 Bowling Alley and then grab dinner after they'd finished bowling. That plan went right out the window when Zach arrived and realized how oppressively loud it was inside, between the music, arcade machines, and the alley, itself. It was far too loud for any manner of conversation.

Instead of bowling, the two grabbed dinner at 110 Grill. After their meal, they decided to go for a walk around the mall. They didn't really go into many of the stores or actually go shopping. They just walked and talked to each other for hours. They only parted company once the mall started closing down.

Zach's initial plans to propose revolved around the one year anniversaries of important dates in their relationship. For one reason or another, the timing never seemed to work out. One major factor was that Sarah had suggested months prior that she'd like for her family to be around when Zach proposed. Getting everyone's schedules to line up proved difficult. When all of the dates of sentimental significance didn't work out, Lynn (Sarah's Mother) suggested that Zach propose during the planned cruise to Bermuda in June. Sarah's parents (Roy and Lynn), sister (Sam), brother-in-law (Kory), nephew (Emmitt), and a whole host of family friends would be in attendance on that cruise, so it seemed like an ideal time.

As the timing solidified, so did the means by which Zach would propose. The plan was for Lynn to suggest the group go for a walk around the ship after they'd finished dinner on the first night aboard ship. Zach would start an seemingly unrelated conversation topic as a signal to the group of what was going to happen. He'd arranged with Kory to get his camera ready to record once he gave the signal. Zach recruited Johnny (a family friend of Sarah's) to help segue into the proposal. Things were going as planned. The whole group was on a walk around the ship, they were in a quiet corner with a nice view, it was the perfect time and place to propose. Zach even began to give the signal for things to start. Sarah had other ideas, though. Not quite sure why the group was milling about in a dead-end corner of the ship with nothing to do, she declared that she was cold and walked away towards a more populated and warmer part of the ship before Zach ever had a chance to propose.

Now, Zach, Roy, Johnny, and the rest had to find a way to steer the group back to some other quiet corner without being suspicious about it. Having arrived at the duty free section of the ship, the group spent a little bit of time looking around before Roy diverted the group back to a good place for Zach to make another attempt. Zach gave the signal, Kory and Lynn started filming, Johnny delivered his lines, and Zach began his proposal. She was taken completely by surprise. If the existence of this website wasn't indication enough, she said "Yes".