In the fall of 2009, after a few glasses (possibly a bottle) of wine, Melanie finally relented to pressure from Monique, one of her closest friends and filled out the E-Harmony questionnaire.   It only took a few weeks until Mike and Melanie were matched.  

Monique took a long look at Melanie’s matches and said, “this one…this Mike guy, he’s the one!”

Mike’s first impressions of Melanie were her warm smile, positive outlook on life, and passion for her career. They both had very similar backgrounds and upbringings – which helped build a common foundation for their relationship.  From the first date, their conversation was natural and effortless – saving them from the long awkward twiddling the thumb pauses or cheesy attempts at small talk.
It wasn’t long before they both started to realize they were meant for each other.  After Melanie came back from Christmas holidays in the Okanagan, they spent every night together.  Mike realized he didn’t want to be apart from Melanie again – and at that moment, he started designing Melanie’s engagement ring.  It was about the same time Melanie came to the same realization – one morning when she was run down from school and work, she woke up feeling quite ill.  She called Mike to ask if he could bring over popsicles and ginger ale after work – her favourite childhood remedy.  As soon as they hung up Mike left his office and went to the grocer and was at Melanie’s front door within 20 minutes.  She felt like she was the luckiest girl alive!
A few months later, one weekend morning they were lazing around drinking coffee and chatting, when the moment was right Mike brought out the ring and showed it her. 

Her immediate response was “What is that?”.  “It’s a wedding ring – would you like to marry me?”  replied Mike.

In Melanie’s defense, it was completely out of the blue and not expected at all. She paused, looked at the ring, looked at Mike, looked at the ring. “Ummmm – what have I done” started running through Mike’s head. He started to backtrack and told her to take her time and mull it over.  At this point Melanie realized she hadn’t given a response and replied, “I think I can work with that!” – Mike’s face fell and Melanie realizing what she said, blurted out  “I mean YES!!”.  To this day Mike still pauses movies/shows at proposal scenes and says “wait…she didn’t say ‘I think I can work with that!’!”
Their special day was a gorgeous sun filled January day on a beach at the Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda on the Mayan Riviera.  Melanie had always wanted a beach wedding and as they both love the Caribbean it seemed to be the logical choice. The colors of yellow and blue were chosen as representations of the sun and ocean, both endless and enduring – just as their love for each other.