What follows is a brief tale of how Rosemarie and Eric met and came to arrive at the door of this matrimonial condition. If you prefer show to tell, however, you may also watch this video that Eric made for Rosemarie years ago, which tells this story with pictures and music.

Our tale of Rosemarie and Eric begins two days before Christmas in 2010. Their mutual friend from college, NgocThao, wanted to give Eric a knickknack from a NYC trip the girls went on together, and Rosemarie agreed to deliver it to him, as Rosemarie and Eric just happened to live about ten minutes apart from each other. However, wary of this potentially bizarre stranger, Rosemarie hedged her on this gift-giving face-to-face by inviting him to a happy hour with an entire table of her coworkers just in case E turned out to be too weird. However, it turned out he was just weird enough, as the coworkers peeled away one by one and left just the two of them, who talked for hours and hours and ended up walking across the plaza to grab a pizookie (a pizza cookie, for the uninitiated) from BJ's Restaurant, where they continued their conversation.

Sometime during their long winding conversations, they were interrupted by a man now referred to as the 'black prophet,' a gregarious man of African descent who came over to apologize for interjecting, but went on to enthusiastically exclaim that Rosemarie and Eric struck him as one of the most amazing couples he has ever seen. And just like that, he vanished into the bustle of the evening, leaving the two stunned and amused. As the evening slowly crept from PM to AM, they parted ways, with Rosemarie apparently quite late to a rendezvous with her sister to make a six-hour drive back home to their family. (Sorry, Nga! She didn't mention it until she left!)

In the coming month they texted back and forth. Eric talked Rosemarie into taking a San Diego trip (where they both graduated college) with their friends, while setting it up so that he essentially tricked her onto a private date on Coronado Island. In the months that followed, they spent more and more time together, and by March 13, 2011, they were officially a couple. Life was good for this new couple, who went on many adventures, challenged each other, and helped each other enjoy life in new ways that they couldn't have otherwise.

A lot has happened since then, but sometime around Christmas of 2014, Eric made a proposal video for Rosemarie with the generous help of many of their friends and family. Although she never technically said 'yes' after watching the video, she did accept the ring and they did set up this big festive wedding, so Eric is reasonably certain at this point that she is willing to marry him.