The bride is originally from central Indiana, born to Byron and Annette Stockberger. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Ball State University (chirp! chirp!) and a Master's from Western Illinois. She relocated to the Bay Area in summer 2014 following her grad school graduation for her first job in higher education. Since then she's transitioned to working for a non-profit that supports FGLI students nationwide. Her go-to karaoke song is "Like a Prayer" by Madonna and her toxic trait is starting craft projects she never finishes.👰🏼‍♀️

Born to Carl Steven Jr. and Jackie Merlino, the groom is a military brat. He's lived in California, Texas, Nebraska, and Georgia, where he ultimately graduated high school and attended college at Georgia State University. He found his way back to California in November 2016 when he accepted a job in tech sales, a career he's loved ever since. He has no sense of direction and lives by the motto "food is fuel"🤵🏻

We both joined a local non-profit, CHEER San Francisco to find community here in the Bay as transplants and former cheerleaders. The bride joined in 2015 after a year in CA and the groom joined in 2016 shortly after moving. We were just friends for several years before anything romantic occurred. (Random photo from Back Tuck fundraiser in 2019) 📣

Things took off during Palm Springs PRIDE 2021 in the 70s house, when sparks flew for the first time surrounded by some of our closest friends on the team. The "Pat This" pod was formed, and a budding relationship began. 💘

Our first trip together - just the two of us - was to beautiful Calistoga, just a couple hours north of the Bay in wine country. This trip sparked the desire to celebrate our anniversary with a trip every spring! ✈️

Move-In Day | After almost a year of commuting back and forth from San Francisco to Menlo Park, then another year of traversing SF neighborhoods, we got the keys to our first place together last September.🔑

We're engaged! Steven popped the question near the end of our Thailand trip this February during a stunning beach sunset in Krabi. Passersby were kind enough to capture the moment and share the photos with us. 💍

See you on the big day! 🍾