Matt and Kate were engaged January 25, 2008, exactly two years to the day of their first date. The couple met while Kate was attending law school at Catholic University where she met and was in the same class as Matt's good friend from Atlanta, Warren Price. Warren decided that he was going to set the couple up on a blind date, so he gave Kate the contact information for Matt during contracts class. A few cases and classes later the couple decided to go out on a date the evening before Warren’s birthday party. The date went very well. Kate and Matt from that date knew that they had found someone special.

The couple had traveled to Miami on their first trip together and it always has been a special place for them. On their first trip to Miami, Matt nonchalantly said that when he got married he was getting married at the Greenbrier. Kate not wanting to inform him that he normally needed a bride for that just laughed and said, “oh are you?” A couple years later it turns out that he was right.

The weekend of the engagement, Matt and Kate spent the weekend in Coral Gables at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami. Matt had picked the ring a few weeks prior and had managed to sneak it on the plane, past airport security without any problems; the hard part came on the night of the engagement. Matt had made reservations at the Blue Door at the Delano in South Beach that evening. He knew that Kate the foodie would love to go out to a nice restaurant where the couple could have a romantic and special evening full of many great memories. The only problem was the ring was in the hotel safe. Matt had difficult sneaking the ring out of the safe without Kate knowing.

After taking the elevator to the lobby Matt "forgot his sunglasses" and offered to go up the room by himself. Kate insisted that she would come along as she had forgotten her lip gloss. Finally after several trips back to the hotel room for forgotten items Matt was able to retrieve the ring.

Dinner that evening was wonderful and while it was nice to enjoy the meal Matt was nervous about the proposal. He couldn’t get the restaurant to confirm that they would present the ring before they arrived in Miami. He left the table and managed to track down their waiter and asked that he present the ring at the desert course. Matt thought Kate would appreciate the presentation. The waiter was recently engaged himself and happy to oblige. At the desert course, Kate knew something was up, she had ordered chocolate cake and smiled as something sparkly glided from the kitchen doors towards their table and when the chocolate cake was presented with the ring on top she was overcome with nerves and excitement as Matt asked her to marry him. She happily accepted, but Kate was so excited she couldn’t even eat her dessert, and Kate always has room for dessert. So they finished off dinner with a champagne toast.

The rest of the weekend was filled with many phone calls to and from family, some who were surprised and excited and some, like Matt’s and Kate’s parents who laughed and said, “it’s about time, we had been taking bets on when this was going to happen.” Matt and Kate finished their weekend relaxing by the pool and enjoying Miami before heading back to DC.

See photos from the engagement and the engagement party