Our story
Sophie and Hugh met in February of 2020, just before the pandemic. After meeting for the first time at now-closed Herringbone in La Jolla, with an intro line asking about film photography, Sophie invited Hugh to watch her off night’s performance in downtown San Diego. Sophie met Hugh in the lobby of the ballet, with his black eye and bruised ribs from Marine Corps training earlier that day, and sunflowers in his hand. But soon everything was closed and they were lucky enough to flee to Arizona together, each with a friend — the trusty early dating barrier between jitters. It was here they became “official.”
Only two months later, Hugh was deployed to Palau, Micronesia. Sophie waved Hugh off from the shore as their naval catamaran, the USNS Bismarck, set sail through the San Diego Harbor, starting three months of limited contact: emails from the ship’s handful of hard-line computers and a couple quick voicemails from whoever’s phone had service. The two kept journals while apart, for all the messages, phone calls, and thoughts they could not send.
When home from Palau, dates in Encinitas became a favorite spot, halfway between Sophie’s place in Pacific Beach and Camp Pendleton in Oceanside. “Yours or mine?” took on extra character with the barracks in play.
In February, Hugh was deployed again to Darwin, Australia for seven months. Here, he trained with the Aussies, swam with the salt water crocs, and camped in the outback. Lots of facetime chats, workouts, naps, and movies later, he came home. Three months later, Hugh’s enlistment was up. A new chapter began.
Hugh and Sophie moved in together into a 300 square feet studio apartment in Encinitas, where they’d met in the middle so often, just blocks away from Swami’s surf break. Their closet was in the kitchen, their office, living room, bedroom all combined in one, Hugh’s 10ft surfboard moved between the middle of the floor and along the kitchen cabinets. A true testament to how much Sophie and Hugh loved each other. Hugh started school at the University of San Diego, and Sophie was promoted at dance.
Then came August of 2023. Hugh took Sophie camping at the backcountry sites on Santa Cruz Island, off his hometown of Ventura. A two hour ferry ride on incredibly choppy seas made for a rocky start . Both Sophie and Hugh refused to take their eyes off the horizon. Their packs – complete with 5.5 gallons of water, gear, and their unusually heavy tripod Hugh insisted on bringing… sloshed around in the hull of the boat, where they had been required to stow them. Sophie and Hugh camped there for 2 nights, on the edge of a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The second night, Sophie mused, “Now that we’ve survived together in the wild, do you think you could marry me?” An innocently-posed question, unknowingly causing Hugh to sweat. That next morning, Hugh woke Sophie up to see the sunrise. Begrudgingly, Sophie bundled up and stumbled her way out of the tent, following Hugh out of the campsite to a section of trail. The aforementioned not-camper-friendly tripod tucked away in the brush, recording. Standing there together watching the sunrise at 5:30am on Santa Cruz Island, Hugh got down on one knee and asked Sophie if she would be his forever. Her cranky, tired expression instantly turned to pure shock. Then joy. Then tears. Sophie and Hugh watched as the sun rose over the Pacific Ocean, starting this next chapter engaged.
And soon, married!