Tom Monson and Ei Aungthet’s Proposal

Our Story

How We Met
We both grew up in south Florida and met through mutual friends. I actually met her in her college town of Tallahassee, FL for a trip up with our friends. She was taken at the time, but we got along well from the start. Months later, she wowed me with an impressive beer pong shot all the way across the room. I bet her she couldn’t do it again, but without hesitation, she nailed it again. In what she claims was the nerdiest pick up attempt, I asked her to be my beer pong partner that night. Luckily my lame charm didn’t scare her away and we dominated the table for most of the night after that.

How He Asked
We went to rival colleges in Florida. She went to Florida State University and I went to the University of Florida. Our mutual love for football and our competitive spirits made it easy for us to talk and get along. It wasn’t long before playful flirtation and trash talking grew into something beautiful. We started dating while we were both finishing up college. Three years of long distance wasn’t easy, but we made it work, visiting each other at least every other weekend. After I had finally finished getting my degree, she and I were both able to find jobs in Washington, D.C. It couldn’t have worked out better and felt meant to be. After a year of living together, we took our first extended vacation to the Cyclade Islands of Greece, taking a sailboat to a new island each day. On the fourth day, we ended up in Paros, which would later prove to be our favorite island. After riding a moped around the Greek island of Paros, we returned back to our boat just in time to see the end of the sunset. I asked her to change into an outfit she had worn the night before so we could “take some pictures”. This gave me ample time to set up the sign and get helpers to record the proposal from various angles. The rest is history.