By Hannah Botjer —
Love is in the air and for one couple,
Brianna Gipe, 19 Psychology major from Shippensburg PA, and Michael Mazzola, 21, Secondary Education major from East Rutherford NJ; their relationship has grown into a recent engagement. Mike proposed to Brianna on December 12.
Brianna actually guessed that Mike was up to something when they were making plans on how they were going to spend the holiday. Typically they would spend the holiday with his family but he was being very particular about how he wanted to spend the holiday, saying that she was going to be unable to spend the holiday with his family.
“In the back of my head I thought something was strange. I’ve celebrated every holiday with his family since we’ve been together. I just couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t go,” Brianna explained.
On December 11 it suddenly hit Brianna that maybe the reason why Mike was acting so strange was that he was going to propose! She realized that she ruined his whole month of planning and knew she had to confront him.
“At first he played it really cool and kept saying, ‘no, you’re just hoping for that, you’re crazy, you don’t know when it’s gonna happen.’ But just about 10 minutes later he finally said, ‘Damn it! Would you like to know how I was going to do it?’ and I said, ‘yes!’” Brianna explained. Mike had intended to drive down Christmas morning to meet up with her grandparents. When they arrived at the house Brianna would answer the door to get the food with her grandparents, but instead Mike would’ve been there with the ring.
Brianna felt terrible for ruining his plan. She told him it
didn’t matter how he proposed as long as him and her were engaged.
“I just wanted him and the promise that he wanted to spend his life with me as his best friend and life partner,” Briana said.
The next morning as they left for school early and on the way there Mike stopped the car. Brianna began to get worried something was wrong with the car. Then Mike turned around, got on one knee and pulled out a box from his pocket.
“Brianna, the first day I met you I knew you we’re going to be my wife. I’ve asked you almost every day since we’ve started dating if you would marry me. And today, I finally have the ring you deserve to go along with the question. Will you marry me?” Mike Proposed.
At 6:30 AM on 12/12/12, on Schuyler Avenue in North Arlington across from the New York City Sky line, Mike and Briana became engaged. That spot was actually the spot where Mike first took Brianna as friends to show her the NYC view.
Being recently engaged hasn’t changed their relationship. Since they began dating they each knew the other was the one, having the ring is a public demonstration of their commitment. Brianna wishes they could be married tomorrow, but with both their large families they are planning to hold a ceremony sometime in October 2015.
