"In order for us to move forward I think it's important that we take a step back and look at what got us here."

This was the first line of the submission from Amanda Hadesty in our Valentine's Day contest. It was also the first line of a letter her future husband, Tony Tessitore, wrote to her that launched a scavenger hunt that would take her from their present home in Pittsburgh, across Pennsylvania, and back to where it all began.That journey helped us determine the former Panther Valley residents had the Most Romantic Proposal, earning them a $50 gift card to Roadie's Restaurant at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe.Hadesty says it took Tessitore seven years to propose, but it was definitely worth the wait.Although the couple both attended Panther Valley High School she is originally from Coaldale and he is from Lansford it wasn't until they were both students at Penn State University that they even said hello to each other."We always find it funny that we went to a high school of about 400 kids and never spoke, but at a school of 40,000 people we met and began our relationship," Hadesty said.Tessitore graduated a year before Hadesty and accepted a job in Pittsburgh. When she graduated the following May, she moved to join him there. He's a financial adviser and she's a business analyst.Their life together, so far, has been filled with romance, with Tessitore sharing that while they are both romantic, he's the most creative in coming up with romantic ideas. Hadesty would have to agree."Tony has always been very romantic and so creative!" she said. "For our first Christmas together he made me a movie (that is about 45 minutes long), containing all of the pictures we had taken together up to that point. It had music that went with each picture and quotes/funny lines would flash across the screen at just the right time."I'll never forget sitting with him and watching it for the first time. It's something we will always have and we pull it out from time to time to remember that first year together."That movie played a part in his proposal, and it was what helped her figure out, almost immediately, that she was about to embark on a very special journey."I knew from the minute I woke up," Hadesty recalled. "It was about 6:30 a.m. and he kissed me on the cheek and said 'I love you' and then he was gone. He texted me a few minutes later and said come downstairs when you're ready, but try to make it soon. When I got out of bed and walked to the top of the steps I could hear the music from our movie playing. I just froze and realized what was happening. I wasn't even down the steps before I was crying."When she got downstairs, Tessitore had all of their old letters and cards laid out in front of the TV."There was one rose and one new letter addressed to me. This was the beginning of my scavenger hunt and he told me that in order for us to go forward, he thought it was important that we took a step back and remembered everything that got us here.Hadesty said she never expected to be driving all day across the state. Her adventure didn't end until 5:30 that evening, when she met him at Glen Onoko."He left the house about 30 minutes before me and he drove the entire time just that far ahead of me," said Hadesty. Her first letter included a set of rules. She was not allowed to text or call anyone; she couldn't call him, but if she needed him for anything, she could text him; she had to take a picture of every place she went and send it to him. Oh, and he also told her she couldn't drive over 70 mph."When I would send him the pictures, that would give him an idea of where I was. He did have help from some people along the way to deliver the roses and letters to me, but the planning was all him!"The planning of the perfect day took a lot of thought and effort."I knew that I wanted to propose to Amanda at the top of the Glen Onoko Falls for the longest time," said Tessitore. "We spent a lot of time hiking there the summer we first met, so it has always been special to us. I started to think of a scavenger hunt as a way to take us from Pittsburgh to Jim Thorpe, and the idea just grew from there."I am just happy that everything turned out perfect that day and that it is something we will always remember," he added."It was really perfect," said Hadesty. "And he didn't just trick me into packing luggage, we still did go to the beach at the end. All of the letters were in envelopes addressed to Ms. Amanda Hadesty, or just Amanda, or The Love of My Life, the last one (that he gave to me at the top of the waterfall) was addressed to 'My Fiancée.' It was a picture of him and I at the beach. So he booked the hotel room and we left the next morning to spend the weekend celebrating at the beach."Believe it or not, there's more. Not only was this the perfect proposal, Tessitore also gave his future wife one last special memory to add to a growing list, and something that made it even more special for her."My parents sold the house I grew up in recently and the night of the 3rd was the last night they were going to be spending in the house," she said. "I was really upset that I wasn't going to be able to be home one last time before they moved. He not only made it possible for me to enjoy the moment of getting engaged with my parents, but also to spend the last night in our house with them."