
Ever since I met my boyfriend in Chicago, we have been inseparable. The only time we aren't together is when I travel home to Pittsburgh or when I have my planned international trips with my best travel buddies, my sisters. When talks were stirring about a potential trip to Italy - my boyfriend, Brandon, made sure to be included on this trip. Little did I know, he and my sisters have conspired to make this trip a very meaningful one for the two of us. We flew into Rome and headed north to Venice. We explored all day, saw an opera in the evening, then drank wine outside with dinner at a local restaurant. As the twilight hours drew close, we all headed back to the hotel. Both Brandon and I looked each other and knew we wanted to do a stroll at night. Taking late night walks is a typical thing we do together. On that particular night we found ourselves amongst the gondalas and walking toward the Rialto Bridge. As I was going to sit on the boardwalk - I turned and saw Brandon down on one knee --- and then I knew, this was his plan all along! Not only did he have a ring but also a letter/poem he had written on valentines day that year that he kept to read to me at this very moment (it was April at the time). He told me his intention was to do it on a gondola but didn't realize they closed at night. Now our wedding date is 7/7/17 and we plan to return to that spot and actually go on a gondala for our honeymoon as a married couple -- so lucky in love :)