Our story begins as acquaintances during the fall semester of 2015 in the UW-Whitewater Navigators. Preston was a freshman just getting involved in the group. Alexandra was a sophomore that was already really involved. Alexandra's first impression of Preston, that would last until the two spent the summer together in the Wisconsin Dells, was that he was a bummy guy that only wore sweatpants and beanies. Fast forward to the end of the school year, Preston and Alexandra are signed up to spend their summer in the Wisconsin Dells with the Navigators ministering to international students. During this summer, Preston and Alexandra finally got to know each other and began their friendship. In the following two years of college, the two became the best of friends. They volunteered a lot of time to the Navigators together and were both Resident Assistants (R.A.) in the dorms on campus, so they naturally spent a lot of time together. Then during the fall semester of 2017 Alexandra moved over to Wells East to be an R.A. on a floor of international students and Preston was already an R.A. in Wells West. These two dorm towers are connected, so the two friends saw even more of each other. Preston would often come over to Alexandra's room and they would hang out and talk for hours on end. They look back on these times and think about how they had no idea where this sweet friendship would ultimately lead! It wasn't until the end of the spring semester of 2018 that Preston and Alexandra started dating. Alexandra asked Preston to "Grab a pint (of ice cream) and chat" one night to tell him how she felt. Little did she know that Preston had the same feelings and had already been talking to his Dad about Alexandra. Preston then waited a whole week to make things official, which killed Alexandra, and the rest is history! In a short six months the two knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together!

Preston and Alexandra had plans to ice skate in Millennium Park in Chicago for Alexandra's birthday. The two enjoyed a nice meal at a vegan Thai restaurant on the way. When Preston and Alexandra got downtown to the park, the line was so long it wrapped around the rink. Preston suggested that the two go see the Bean and find somewhere to sit to open Alexandra's gift, which he had been carrying with them. Alexandra followed Preston's lead and they walked over to the Bean, took pictures, and then Preston seemingly found a secluded area to sit down and give Alexandra her birthday gift. Unbeknownst to Alexandra, Preston spotted his dad at the Bean and followed a hooded Andre to the spot where Preston’s Mom and Aunt were already hiding in the bushes. The two sat down and Alexandra opened her gift that Alexandra's mom helped Preston to make. It was a beautiful photo album of their love story. Preston found photos that went through the years of friendship and the past six months of dating. Alexandra cried when she read the first page titled “Our Love Story.” At this point, Alexandra still didn’t know Preston was going to propose. The two sat, cried, laughed, and reminisced until she flipped to the last page. Preston then instructed Alexandra to read a poem aloud that Preston wrote. Although it took many cry breaks to finally get through the poem, after the last line were the following words:“And that is why I come at bended knee, asking and pleading…” Alexandra looked up and there Preston was in front of her, on one knee, asking Alexandra to marry him! Alexandra quickly went in for a kiss as her answer. After a few minutes of hugging, kissing, and Alexandra giddily saying, “We’re finally engaged!” Preston motioned to the people climbing out of the bushes. Preston's dad, mom, and aunt were there to capture it all on camera. Preston had also asked for Alexandra's dad’s, mom’s, sister’s, and grandparents’ blessing in the weeks leading up to his surprise birthday proposal.