We're getting married!

Andrew and Emilee have known each other, and have been friends, since the 6th grade. Fall of 2009, sophomore year of high school, they spent most of the Homecoming dance talking and dancing with one another - not their dates. Andrew called Emilee after school a few weeks later and asked her if she would be his girlfriend. Their first date was on November 22nd, 2009 - they went to see Twilight Saga - New Moon. The night only got more romantic - neither of them had a license yet and had to be dropped off in front of the theater in Andrew's mom's van! Throughout high school, they were able to experience things together - homecoming dances, proms, sporting events. Emilee was at almost every home basketball game sophomore, junior, and senior year- and yeah, she even made herself a t shirt with Andrew's number on it. As high school came to an end, the idea of being apart from each other at college became a real possibility. They did not plan on going to school together - they had very different career goals. But, as it would turn out, they would both end up attending Bradley University in the fall of 2012. They supported each other through the changes of moving away from home, making new friends, joining Greek organizations, and attaining their degrees. Both Andrew and Emilee graduated in May 2016. After graduation came another big change: getting jobs; and where? Emilee took a job in Port Byron, Illinois at Riverdale High School and Andrew took a position at The HON Company in Muscatine, Iowa. The halfway point: Davenport, Iowa. So that is where they got their first apartment. After about a year, Andrew accepted a new position, moving him to Nashville, Tennessee. So, for the first time, Andrew and Emilee had to do the "long distance thing"... for 9 months... ugh. But, they made it work. Weekend trips to halfway points: Indianapolis and St. Louis, long weekend trips when they could make the 8 hour, 551 mile drive to see each other, and the occasional plane ride.

On one of Emilee's trips to Nashville, over her spring break - she found out Andrew was VERY good at surprises. He had mentioned that he wanted to go to dinner, just somewhere nice, for fun. The day after Emilee arrived in Tennessee, Andrew said he had made the reservation and that they would be getting dinner at 7 that night. Some Italian place. Andrew pulled up to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Emilee was not convinced that it was a restaurant, or that they were even suppose to be there - it looked too fancy. But, they went in through the lobby and started to walked around a bit, looking for their restaurant. *Side note: if you have not seen the inside of this resort before - look it up. Seriously.* So they finally found their place and had dinner. After they were done Andrew asked if Emilee wanted to walk around the resort a little bit more before leaving. They had just had pasta, so she said um, yeah. As they were following one of the paths, they came across a clearing with a gazebo they had seen earlier. Andrew asked Emilee if she would want him to ask one of the people taking pictures of their kids, to take a picture of the two of them in the gazebo. She said yes. So, Andrew went up to one of the women (who he startled) and asked her to take their picture. After getting into position, the woman decided she was too short and asked her husband to take the picture. He took a few and started to hand the phone back to Andrew. Andrew then asked the man if he would not mind taking a few more - this is when Emilee started to catch on. They are not the "try 50 pictures until they get the perfect one" couple. And when Emilee went to put her arm back around Andrew, he had sweat through his vest. As the man took a few more pictures, Andrew got down on one knee and asked Emilee if she would be willing to marry him. Of course she said yes ... and thank you.