Welcome to our wedding

Abi was in anesthesia school and her friend (and fellow classmate) Emily asked if she could give her brother Abi's number. Abi was initially horrified by the idea, but with Emily's persistence, she agreed. Abi was living at home up in Massachusetts & Matt temporarily left Nashville to move in with his parents outside Philly on what everyone thought was a two-week covid shutdown. Two weeks turned into eight weeks, but through that time, it was fun for Matt and Abi to text and facetime before meeting in person. Abi moved back to Philadelphia when clinical restarted and Matt drove to her apartment with a trunk full of hot sauce and raw chicken for their first date -- Abi had never liked wings but she couldn't say no to an offer for a homemade 'famously addictive' recipe. Abi made salad and Matt cooked his specialty, proceeding to splatter hot oil across her entire kitchen -- but she was still smitten for his kind, compassionate soul. Matt drove home smiling about the date and walked in the front door to tell Emily, 'thank you.'

November 19th was the last day of clinical for Abi in her anesthesia program, and definitely one major step closer to reaching graduation. Sometime in early fall, Matt asked Abi if she wanted to go to a SoFar Sounds Concert on the 20th as a celebration. Abi said sure, they had been to these concerts before -- you buy tickets a few months ahead, but the location of the event is not released until 24 hours before the concert -- and she didn't think anything else of it. Fast Forward to November 19th -- clinical was officially over, and looking for a way to celebrate, Abi eagerly asked Matt if the email came through sharing the location of the concert. He smiled and said something sweet and told her he didn't know if he should even tell her because she was going to be very pleased. Abi asked if she could guess and Matt agreed. Abi listed a few places and then smiled because she knew her next answer was correct -- there was a botanical garden on the outskirts of Philly called Bartrams Gardens that they had driven through once -- Abi loved it and always talked about going back to visit. Abi was naive through this whole process and didn't think anything of this 'surprise' concert location -- she thought it was a coincidence and was honestly just excited to go back and visit the gardens again. She asked to see the email, and Matt pulled up the venue announcement 'from his email,' but he really opened a PDF he had photoshopped on his phone. Everything was going according to plan, and Matt fell asleep that night with confidence that the proposal would go off without a hitch, and Abi fell asleep naive as ever, excited for the concert. The next day, the weather was perfect -- Abi still had no idea what was to come. They arrived at the gardens and Matt started walking into the depths of the estate. Abi repeatedly told Matt to slow down and she kept remarking she saw no signs for the concert -- she was convinced the concert was held on the other side of the gardens. Matt ASSURED her they were going the right way and he even told her that he looked at a map before they left because he opened a last-minute email that told guests to 'head to the boardwalk on the water.' Abi was still as clueless as ever even though her radar was flashing hazardous red lights when Matt told her he looked at a map and knew where he was going. After a year of dating, Matt would still get lost walking to their favorite coffee shop, La Colombe, which was a straight shot from their apartment with 1 turn. Abi went along with it until they started offroading to get to this 'boardwalk' that Abi was convinced didn't exist. Matt was running ahead, and for the first time thus far, Abi started to feel some butterflies -- Matt was on a mission for something, and it was not to locate concert seats. They turned the corner and in front of them, a boardwalk did appear, as Abi started to hear the strum of a guitar. She paused in her step and Matt ushered her along, smiling as bright as ever. Abi saw Matt's dad crouching with his camera, and it finally settled in that this was never intended to be a SoFar Concert. Abi and Matt reached the end of the boardwalk and turned the corner to see candles and rose petals adorning the opening of a large breakout facing the water. Abi cried while she asked Matt 'is this really happening??' to which he just smiled and told her repeatedly 'I have so much to tell you.' Taking her hand, Matt walked Abi into the center of the candles while his cousin, Danny, played guitar and sang the one song that Matt had played at special moments in his life when 'everything was right.' Matt bent down on one knee and proposed. Abi overwhelmingly said 'YES!' and after a few moments relishing in the moment, they walked up the hill to see both of their families waiting at the top to celebrate. Matt spent weeks recruiting help from family and friends to make sure his coined event 'Operation Happiest Hour' went off without a hitch -- and it was perfect.