Falling in Love
Ketryn Kochka & Mike Rose
Oct 21st, 2023
At The Barn on Benson’s Pond
Middleborough, Massachusetts
Our Story
How We Met
A summer fling turned into a long-term romance. Mike was the sous chef at a local seafood restaurant in Provincetown when Ketryn came down to waitress for the summer. They spent the summer working alongside each other and getting to know one another as professionals. They both worked hard and appreciated each other's work ethic. At the end of the summer they had a small fling which they both thought wouldn't amount to much. Mike went back to work at the restaurant and Ketryn was off to Texas for work.
The following summer, Ketryn was back in Provincetown to waitress again. She ended up back at the same restaurant Mike was still working. The two of them were working long hours alongside each other and going out with their coworkers regularly after work. As a result, Mike and Ketryn were spending a lot of time together both in and out of work. What started as coworkers, slowly turned to friends, which quickly developed into something more.
Their story didn't immediately end in happily ever after, Mike and Ketryn have been through their fair share of ups and downs. But, those moments, both good and bad, helped them grow and brought them to where they are today.
The Proposal
It was September 2020 and Mike was on a month long solo road trip. During this time, he did a lot of reflecting on his life. He already knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ketryn. While he was laying under the stars in the Moab Desert, he decided when he got back that he would start looking for a ring. In the spring, he searched many different places until he ended up at Stephen Gallant Jewelers. It was the same place his parent's got his mom's ring, and unbeknownst to him at the time, it was also the same place that Ketryn's parents got their wedding set. Mike fell in love with the first ring he saw. He kept the ring in the trunk of his car in his golf bag for months, waiting for the perfect moment!
It was now fall, Mike and Ketryn's favorite time of the year; they took a weekend trip to hike Mount Monadnock and see the foliage. Mike planned to propose when they made it to the top of the mountain, but nature had other plans. It was quite a windy day, and there were a lot of people at the top. So, on the way back down the mountain, Mike and Ketryn took a little detour and stopped at a lower peak to check out the views. Mike finally found his perfect moment, Ketryn had no idea what was coming. She kept trying to hurry Mike along because she was ready to finish their hike down the mountain, until she finally realized what was happening. Mike got down on one knee and Ketryn finally let him get the words out.