How we met:

Yes we "technically" met in a bar, but I prefer to say we met through Eric! Much like my best friend Emily and I, we didn't necessarily hit it off right away.  Actually, I thought Matt was kinda weird (I was so right) because he never wanted to sit with us at a table! Always alone at the bar instead, focused on the games.  When we finally had an epiphany as to WHY Matt never sat with us, we were an instant team.  They say that you have to find somebody whose weirdness is compatible with yours; boy did we hit the nail on the head!

The Proposal:

This is most definitly my all time favorite "Matt & Jen" story! Matt and I took our much anticipated trip to South America for almost three weeks in December.  With pressure from family and half-joking comments from me as to when we would be getting engaged, Matt had been telling everyone for months his famous answer to the madness surrounding us: "I'll think about it". 

By the time we were checked in at the airport in Myrtle, an engagement was the farthest thing from my mind.  I was absolutley certain my stubborn boyfriend would wait until we returned in an effort to truly surprise me.  Plus, I became slightly distracted when I was temporarily detained at the airport for accidently having two live rounds in my purse pocket (oops) :)

Day three of our journey to South America we were on a bus headed into the Chilean wine country more excited than we could even express in words!  The first winery we were set up to visit was Santa Rita winery.  It was centuries old and breathtaking.  As we followed our tour guide around with the small group we took pictures, talked in dog voice to the barn owls (well maybe that was just me....) and had a wonderful wine tasting in their family cellar.

At the end of the tour, we were given about 45 minutes to explore the vineyards, wine shop and small museum the family had built.  Matt wanted to go back to check out the old manicured gardens that we caught a glimpse of at the beginning of the day.  The vineyard had a beautiful tent set up adjacent to the gardens for a wedding the evening before.  I of course took this as a prime opportunity to sass Matt a little.  "We should have OUR wedding here Matt!"

Only this time, I was called out on my sass mouth!  Matt dropped to his knee and asked me to marry him! Right there in the garden with the beautiful Andes mountains and rows on vines as our backdrop.  I immediatly started crying, said "yes" at least a dozen times, asked if he was serious and oh yeah; gave him my right hand! LOL.  I was a little flustered to say the least!

We spent the following two weeks travelling South America, celebrating our new engagement and sharing our dreams for our wedding day <3