Posted on May 19, 2017 by Francesca Sgambati
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How They Met: We met on St. Patrick’s Day in Philadelphia. My friend Jackie invited a few friends and I out to her place in Philly for her birthday, she wanted to attend the annual pub crawl they have. Mike happened to be attending the same pub crawl with a group of his friends like they did every year. After a long day, I decided to head back to the hotel a little early with my friend Lindsay. After a lot of deliberation, I hopped back in a cab and met my friends Jackie and Jen who were still out in Center City Philly. I figured that I made the trek all the way from North Jersey, so I might as well get a little more from the trip than going to bed early. 
The night started to wind down and Jackie and I decided to head out in search for some late night food. That is where Jackie and I met Michael and his friend Mike. We struck up conversation almost like we had known each other for years, talking about sports, sports and more sports. Michael didn’t have his phone on him so when we said our goodbyes I figured it was for good. Michael ended up getting my phone number from his friend Mike who asked Jackie for it. Michael ended up texting me the very next day saying something witty about my job at ESPN and the flirting commenced! 
How He Asked: For our first date, I invited Michael over to my place where we laughed, grilled some delicious steaks and had incredible conversation. For our second date, Michael invited me down to his family’s shore house in Ocean City, NJ. This would end up being the spot where we got engaged just a few years later, right in front of the house on the beach. I was craving Ocean City Coffee and their famous monkey bread, so Michael and I took a day trip down. We planned on doing our usual five mile walk on the boardwalk while stopping for some mini golf and boardwalk basketball. At the end of our walk, we were right in front of Michael’s family’s shore house. He said he wanted to sit on the beach for a little bit before we got dinner, so he ran to the car to grab a blanket. At the time, I’m sitting in front of the house sending my friends goofy snapchats, not having any clue that my life was about to change in a few short minutes. Mike comes back with a drawstring bag on his back and no blanket. I honestly didn’t even think anything of it. We started walking towards the beach and he started talking about how he knew the first time I came down to visit him in Ocean City that he wanted to date me. He finished by saying that now he knows he is ready to marry me and spend the rest of his life with me. That’s when he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. I was in total shock! I believe my first response was “is this happening right now?!” followed by a lot of tears and a huge “YES!” Mike then tells me he has another surprise, he booked us a hotel room in Philly right around where we first met. So we hopped in the car and called our family and closest friends. It was truly a surprise and was absolutely perfect. 
Photographer: Kristen Noble Photography
