How did you two meet?
Patrick: "I was in third grade and had been sent outside the classroom for one reason or another, when another class walked by and I noticed Zay. I thought she was so pretty and from then on whenever I saw her I would continue to think how pretty I thought she was. We had a few opportunities to talk and get to know each other towards the end of high school, but it wasn’t until my third year in college, during spring break, that I really had the opportunity to become a part of her life. My friend Chapman and I had gone down to the beach. While we were hanging out with a group of friends, Chapman came across Zay on the way to the gas station. He invited her to come hangout with us, and thankfully she agreed. Over the next few days, I spent as much time as I could trying to talk to her and get to know her-- and of course impress her. One night we went out as a group and thanks to my friend, I had an opportunity to dance with her, which led to the best and last first kiss of my life. My friend and I ended up spending the rest of spring break with Zay. Her and I really started to hit it off. Once the week had ended, she came to see me in Auburn and the rest is history."

What are some things you two enjoy doing together?

Zay: "Patrick and I are similar in many ways. We love doing anything outdoors. We love ski/snowboard, hiking, kayaking, climbing and biking. Patrick is now teaching me how to hunt. We both just bought bows and arrows. Camping is something else we enjoy doing, but unfortunately don’t get to do it that often. We love being lazy together and watching movies. Looking up recipes and 'trying' to cook it is something we also enjoy doing. Going to the beach or traveling anywhere together is one of our favorite things. Just being able to experience new things together is something we always talk about. We’re planning on getting into kiteboarding and planning on taking a lesson very soon."

How and when did Patrick propose?
Zay: "Patrick and I had gone down to the beach with his two brothers and his brother's fiancé. We always bring his brothers down to the beach, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary that they were there. We had a great first day at the beach. The next day we went on the beach, Patrick had told me his mom wanted pictures of us dressed up on the beach. Of course I didn’t think anything of it. We were all down there and what mom doesn’t want pictures of their children? Not knowing what was going on, I put on one of his favorite outfits of mine. It was my white jumpsuit. He loved that outfit! He had requested that I wear it anyway, which of course was not out of the ordinary because I knew how much he loved it. He was very specific on what time he wanted to go take pictures. I had been ready for a while, so I kept saying, 'Let's go, let's go.' He had wanted to wait for the sunset. Finally when it was that time, the two of us had walked down to the beach. He held my hand and walked me to this random chair that was sitting on the beach. As we got to the chair, there was this scrap book sitting on it. I was confused as to why it was sitting there. I picked it up and it was a book of all the memories we had together. When I got to the last page it said, 'WILL YOU MARRY ME!!!' I looked at him and he had gotten down on one knee and asked me!!"

Patrick: "I had been planning to purpose for about six months or more. I had the emotional talk with her mom and the intimidating talk with her dad months prior-- and thankfully both gave me their blessing. I went through a lot of different plans leading up to the proposal. Over the four years prior, Zay and I had been through so much and had made so many amazing memories together. With this, I decided to make a scrapbook cataloging all the wonderful things that had happened since we met. Once I had finished it, I was so excited to give it to her and satisfy the anticipation that had been building in me over the past months. Finally, on a trip to the beach, I had my brother go set up a chair on the beach with the scrapbook laying on it. I told Zay I wanted to take pictures on the beach for my mothers birthday, and so we dressed up nice and walked down to the beach. We came across the book and began reading it together. I had written a small quote on each page that together slowly built up to the most important question of my life. The closer we got to the last page the more nervous I became, and when we finally reached the last page that read, 'Will you marry me?' I was so nervous I almost forgot what I was supposed to do or say. Thankfully the part of my brain that had rehearsed this moment over and over again throughout the many months prior took over, and I found myself on one knee looking up at the most beautiful women, that by some miracle, had agreed to spend the rest of her life with me."