Like many modern love stories start, Alex and Cassie met online. Cassie asked Alex a question about hockey, and Alex couldn’t help but answer—long-winded and overly detailed. Somehow, it didn’t scare Ms. Ells away. A few short days later, after a long late-night phone call, the two met at Peet’s Coffee in Irvine. Unbeknownst to Alex, Cassie was extremely nervous. She appeared confident and calm among the Orange County café-goers. Despite this, they talked for hours, then walked over to browse the movie selection at a nearby Target—something that has since become a huge part of their relationship.

Soon—almost like a movie montage—Cass met Alex’s best friend Tony; his wife, Heather; and their two daughters, Bella and Gabby, who immediately fell in love with her. Conversely, Alex became Cassie’s dog Rusty’s best friend (only kidding—Rusty only had eyes and a heart for one human, and it was Cassie). Alex also met Cassie’s entire family: her two brothers, Cody and Richard; their wives; and her parents, Valerie and Rick, on Father’s Day at San Onofre Beach for an attempt at SUP boarding. Despite his efforts to impress the crew by donning a wetsuit and getting into the surf, the future in-laws did not abandon Alex at the beach that day.

A while later, Alex took Cassie to Bend, Oregon, to the home of his father and his wife, Erin. There, both Alex’s dad and Erin fell head over heels for Cassie. They even took her aside to assure her they could simply adopt her and get rid of the guy she came with, if she so chose.

After a few vacations, overnight backpacking trips, concerts, surgeries, hockey games, cousins’ Ironmans, and cousins’ weddings, Alex finally decided to “put a ring on it” (in the wise words of Beyoncé Knowles), and Cassie said yes.

So, on a San Clemente beach not too far from that first family outing, they began this journey together.