Her Story: Alex and I got to know each other while working on a project at Zynga. We are polar opposites according to Meyers-Briggs - our styles clashed and he drove me crazy at times! However, when Alex told me he was leaving Zynga, I was really sad. Despite our differences, we made a good team. Alex's strengths made up for my weaknesses and vice versa. I hardly knew who he was outside of work and made an attempt to get to know the "real" Alex in his final days at Zynga. Little did I expect to find my life partner in him.

Alex is my miracle. He is smart, funny, modest, fun, spontaneous, and caring. He balances me out, makes me smile, reminds me not to take life so seriously, and inspires me to be a better me each day. Alex, I am so grateful that my path led me to you and cannot wait to explore the rest of life's journeys with you.

His Story: I first met Nancy 4 years ago while working at Zynga. I will always remember the moment we first met – she came into the meeting room prepared with lots of notes and that big beautiful smile on her face. I knew right away that she was someone special. We were colleagues for two years. We didn't become close until I decided to start my next entrepreneurial adventure after leaving Zynga. Little did I know then that spending time with Nancy and falling in love with her would be the biggest adventure of my life. I can't wait to grow and explore and see the rest of the world with her once we're married.

Nancy is my best friend. She is beautiful, funny, intelligent and the most hard working person I have ever known. I admire her more than any person on this planet and I love her so very much.

The entire month of December was nerve wracking for me as I tried to plan the perfect proposal for Nancy. I had the ring ready and hidden in my house for an entire month – moving it almost every day so that I could be sure Nancy wouldn't find it – but I didn't have a good idea of how to pop the question. As the end of the year approached, I started to put together a plan for New Year's Eve.

Our close friends Curtis and Janet were hosting a small New Year's Eve celebration and I asked if I could pop the question there. They happily obliged and the plan went into motion. Nancy went to work on New Year's Eve day and I pretended like I was going to work too. Instead, I gathered some New Year's Eve party supplies, and some materials for creating some hand held signs.

I transformed our bedroom into a NYE dressing room and filled it with the party favors, confetti and costume pieces. Then I went over to Curtis' office where the party was going to be held. I prepared 10 signs for our closest friends to hold during the New Year's Eve countdown.

The Party

Nancy was pleasantly surprised when she got home from work. She had a huge selection of New Year's gear to pick from in our NYE Dressing room so she showed up for the evening ready to party! As our friends started coming in throughout the night I started to get just a tiny bit nervous. About an hour after we arrived, my undercover photographer, Hector, showed up to the party. I had put an ad up on craigslist seeking a photographer for the night, but knowing it was going to be a party of only about 20 people, I had to come up with a plan to integrate him without alarming Nancy. Luckily, out of the 30 or so people who responded to the ad, I found one person who would fit right in with our group and I instructed him to act as an old buddy of Curtis, the host of the party. Hector showed up and started making conversation and integrated quickly. He was a natural! He noticed my own camera which I brought to the party and feigned interest in playing around with it. With that little bit of theater we had our photography for the evening ready to go!

Midnight approached and spirits were high. One thing I didn't realize was that the projector we were watching the countdown on was tape delayed by 3 whole minutes (curse you AppleTV)! As everyone started to turn their attention to the countdown, Nancy looked at her own watch and realized that real midnight had come and go – without me proposing to her. I could see that she was a little disappointed but I tried to encourage her to watch the screen and count down with me. Throughout the last few minutes she didn't realize that our closest friends and my sister and brother-in-law disappeared into a back room.

After a little bit of cheering up, I finally got Nancy to come by the TV. We hugged and watched the last 2 minutes of the countdown and then I started to get REALLY nervous. As the final 30 seconds of the countdown came on screen I started chanting out the numbers aloud. This was it – we were in the final seconds before the surprise would be revealed. 

Slowly, everyone in the room started to countdown with me and as the number 10 approached, I turned Nancy away from the TV and towards the loft. Our friends appeared as each number in the final 10 seconds was chanted out loud. Each one of them held a sign with a reason why I wanted to marry Nancy.

Finally, I got down on one knee and popped the question. 

She said yes!