If you've met Denzel, you'll know that he's friendly, outgoing, and hard to miss. He can strike up a friendly conversation with anyone, and enjoys meeting new people. As someone who tends to be quiet, and would rather sit in silence than have to initiate a conversation with someone I don't know, he was a confusing thing to figure out my freshman year at college. He waved at me like an old friend before we had even met, and had no problem inviting himself into my practice room to discuss the piano pieces we were both struggling through. He was way too concerned with me walking across campus alone at night, and frequently walked me home. I never expected to go to college and have a boyfriend within the first three months, but that's what happened. We watched concerts together, grabbed meals together, and soon became a pair, always together. We weren't looking for a casual fling, and early on realized that if we were serious, we were going to have some long distance in our future. We spent hours Skyping over winter and summer breaks, dreading the time when Denzel would graduate and head off to graduate school a year before I would. Throughout all of this though, we only grew closer. Denzel headed off to the University of Northern Iowa last August, as I headed back to Mercer to finish my Senior year. As I auditioned for graduate schools, I was hoping for an easy decision, not sure how to fit my relationship with Denzel in with my future career plans, much less how money would fit into everything. I waited until the last few days to make my decision, and mid-April, I decided to accept an offer from the University of Northern Iowa that offered a great scholarship and a teaching graduate assistantship, and would allow Denzel and I to be together again. After this, it was a no brainer! We'd been waiting for this moment for over three years; it was time for a wedding! -Bethany