Derek and I first met in the beginning of 2012. Scott (groomsmen) introduced me to his group of friends one day while we were playing football down at Kolb. Ended up having a great time with everyone, so I stayed in contact and hung out with them more and more. Derek and I became very good friends after that. Fast forward to 2013 when Derek claims he asked me out on a date (I still say he didn't). Jenna (matron of honor) and I wanted to go see The Lucky One in the theater. Of course this movie happened to play on Valentines Day, so we decided that the 2 of us didn't need a date and we can just do dinner and a movie without a man. Somehow the conversation came up with Derek that just Jenna and I were going to dinner and a movie alone. That's when he said "Well Shawn and I can go with you guys" and I agreed that they could. Derek claims that was his way of asking me out, I say that he just felt bad that we were going alone. You guys can decide what to think on that one. Many people were asking why we don't just date and my response was "he's my best friend that would be weird". Now moving onto the late summer of 2013, we were down at Kolb hitting some softballs around with Zac (bestman) and Kayla (bridesmaid). The boys were up first so Kayla and I were just talking and somehow I opened my eyes to see that Derek was placed into my life for a reason. August 2013 Derek and I went to a Tigers game. It was my very first one and I had so much fun. Instead of asking me to be his girlfriend he looked at me and said "oh by the way we have been dating since August 1st" and I said "oh well this would have been nice to know on August 1st". We both laughed about it and I guess the rest is history because here we are.

I am pretty sure he had been planning this before 2021. January of 2021 Derek scheduled "family pictures" claiming he wanted some updated ones. I gave him the number of the person who takes our family pictures (photographer for our wedding too) and he set it all up. I don't think he really gave Heidi much of a heads up before he got down on one knee, but she was still able to capture the beautiful moment.