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In late-December 2007 I joined Match.com hoping to find someone with whom I could have a serious relationship. Previous attempts with online dating had mixed results, but I was convinced that this time would be different.

Within hours of joining, a "wink" came my way. With hope in my heart, I clicked through to a profile that showed a dude playing a trombone - an instrument that I had "played" up through high school. I continued on, only to find out that we also had marching band and a love of music in common. Things were looking up! Somewhere toward the end of his profile, he mentioned he'd made a trebuchet as part of a Halloween costume one year, and that if I knew what it was, we should talk. Coming from a design backround, I knew Trebuchet as a font - not as the medieval catapult he was referencing. So I sent him a letter anyways, hoping he'd like my definition enough to respond. He did - telling me his name was Vince.

On January 11, 2008 we met at PJ Whelihan's for the first time. When he held my hand on the way out and gave me a gentle goodnight kiss in the parking lot, I knew that things were going to be different with him.

I had tried Internet dating, on and off, for several years. Looking through thousands of profiles led to a few dates, most of which were not memorable. I was just about ready to give up on the Internet when I spotted a cute girl who taught color guard. A couple e-mails later and we were meeting for dinner. The first date was funny and awkward and nice. I didn’t know this was the girl I’d be spending the rest of my life with, but I definitely knew I’d be seeing her again.

In April 2010, we decided to piggyback on someone else's Jamaica vacation, arriving two days early to have some "us" time. Friends had asked Vince if he planned to propose while we were away, to which he definitively responded "No." Fast forward to April 16, our second day at the resort. After spending the day poolside with good books and good cocktails we headed back to the room to change for dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant Vince wanted to eat at, I took one look at the menu and vetoed the idea (I'm a really picky eater, if you didn't know). Vince said "All right, let's just go stand over here and figure out what we want to do instead." We walked over to the balcony and looked out over the pool and the ocean. "This sunset is really beautiful," he started.

"Sunset?" I interrupted, "The moon is out! It's not a sunset."

He shifted and said something to the effect of "It's still beautiful, just like you," and dropped to his knee. I saw him go down out of the corner of my eye and thought to myself "NO HE'S NOT!" before I started crying (joyfully, of course). I remember there being a question in there somewhere, a "yes" somewhere else, and quite a few phone calls to family and friends.

I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Amanda, and I decided to propose to her while we were on vacation in Jamaica. I had found the perfect stone and setting a couple weeks before. When I went to pick it up three days before we left I found that the stone had been incorrectly set into the ring, and the jeweler wasn’t around to fix it! After a small panic attack the stone was reset the next day and the stage was set.

I spent the first night scoping out a good location and finding out that my friend Dave had proposed to HIS girlfriend that night. The second day I planned to pop the question after dinner. Walking to the restaurant with the ring in my pocket I realized I was too nervous to eat. Looking out over the resort from the second floor hallway, watching the sun set, I decided we didn’t need to wait for dinner. I got down on one knee and stammered out something like “This sunset is beautiful, just like you. Will you marry me?”. Amanda didn’t notice my awkward grammar since she started crying as soon as I knelt. She said yes, and we had dinner three hours later after calling our families to give them the news.