Emily, known for being great with kids, spent many a summer as a counselor at Ramah Day Camp in Elkins Park, PA. Zach, not known for being great with kids but wanting summer employment, took a job as the music counselor there in the summer of 2018. Zach was also not known for social awareness, and was completely oblivious as to why Emily kept finding excuses to hang out with him during the summer. After hanging out with his sister and a friend from camp, Emily drove Zach home. A week went by and Zach asked Emily out to the Phillies game.

At the end of the summer, both agreed to a long-distance relationship: Emily at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Zach at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Emily would take the train up to Boston, where they would walk through the city, enjoying places like the New England Aquarium, local escape rooms, although Zach had to protect Emily once or twice from the aggressive squirrels at the Public Garden. Emily finished both her bachelor's degree in 2019 and her master's degree in 2020, and was ready for some real-world teaching, but she had to start somewhere, so why not Boston?

In September of 2020, for Zach's final year of college (mostly over Zoom), they moved into their first apartment, small in everything but the price, located over a pizza place with questionable ties. This is where they learned how to live together and all the best ways to get on each other's nerves. Through numerous mishaps, they made it work. At the end of the school year, they decided to move closer to home and settled in Summit, New Jersey, just west of Newark. This place was much bigger, big enough that when Emily got COVID once, isolation was actually quite easy, though kind of lonely; they got so bored they watched Morbius on Netflix Party. In Summit, now both working professionals, they faced more challenges than ever, but at the end of the day, always worked it out together. Summit also had the benefit of being a train ride away from Manhattan, where they would go to Broadway shows several times a year, as the refrigerator covered in Broadway magnets can confirm.

In July of 2023, escaping rising prices in Summit, Zach and Emily, with the help of most of the wedding party, moved about 15 miles south to Woodbridge. This apartment was in between the size of the ones in Boston and Summit, though it had a great view of the dumpsters, where Zach and Emily like to watch the stray cats and raccoons (and occasionally a skunk). This was a month before Zach's grand plan was finally realized.

One of Zach and Emily's favorite ways to spend quality time together is watching movies, especially with Emily as the popcorn chef with her air popper and special seasoning. Zach, despite also being from the Philadelphia metropolitan area, had never seen the Rocky movies, so Emily decided to rectify this. In Rocky 2, Rocky proposes to his wife, Adrian, at the Philadelphia Zoo in front of the tiger exhibit. Zach almost instantly got the idea to recreate this, and asked two of Emily's closest friends to start planning this months beforehand.

On August 26, 2023, Emily went with these friends to the Philadelphia Zoo, thinking they were celebrating a birthday. When they reached the tiger exhibit, they found Zach, along with several of his closest friends, where he asked Emily to marry him. She said yes, with no help from the tiger, who slept the whole time. Jerk. One of Zach's friends also noticed that the ring, from Emily's grandmother, still had the original engraving from Emily's late grandfather, which made it all the more special. After the proposal, they made their way to Zach's mother's house, where friends and family were waiting for a surprise engagement party.

One year, eight months, one day, and five hours later, Zach and Emily will get married at a local country club/hotel, and look forward to you being a part of their special day!