Andrea and Mark met in 2007, but the timing wasn’t quite right to dive into a relationship. Even though Andrea knew “there was something there” the minute she saw him, they remained platonic friends for about a year. (They were dating others at the time and were pulled in different directions.) However, one afternoon she told her father that she missed Mark. “That was when I knew there was something more we needed to explore,” she says. Her roommate and Mark’s roommate made plans to hang out and she and Mark tagged along. That was the night their relationship went from platonic to romantic. They’ve been together ever since.
One evening in October of 2013, Mark asked Andrea if they were to take a trip anywhere, would she want to go to a city, go on an adventure, or go somewhere picturesque? She didn’t answer right away and told him she would think about it. Later that night, Andreaa told Mark that she picked a city or a picturesque place, but that he would need to make the final decision. Not long after that, Mark informed Andrea that he was taking her on a trip for her birthday in March, but that he wasn’t going to tell her where they were going until a week before. Andrea’s girlfriends were sure that Mark was going to propose on the trip, but Andrea wasn’t so sure that he would ask her to marry him at an “obvious” time. When March rolled around, she found out that Mark was taking her to Ireland. During the trip, Mark planned a romantic birthday at Fire in Dublin City. “We had just ordered dessert when he asked me if I was ready for my birthday surprise. I sat back in amazement, as usual, and said, ‘What birthday surprise? This whole trip has been my birthday surprise?!'” says Andrea. Mark told her to close her eyes and the next thing she knew she heard the snap of a jewelry box. As he was saying sweet things to her, he told her to open her eyes and a beautiful cushion-cut diamond ring was sitting on the table in front of her. ” It took another 30 seconds and a few sips of champagne for everything to sink in and that’s when the tears of joy began,” she says.
Andrea graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in biology and Mark graduated from The Art Institute of Dallas. They will marry Saturday, October 10, 2015, at Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.
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