We are getting married!

We first met on a night out in downtown Champaign, Illinois. I (Colleen) was a second year PhD student at the University of Illinois in the Crop Science Department and Eric was a project manager in a research lab in the same department. As a hard working graduate student, I spend countless of late night hours in the office working on my research, something my family and coworkers agreed was not conducive to finding eligible bachelors. Eric was of the same mindset, realizing the importance of going out to meet new people. Although we talked briefly during this first encounter and I did find him to be funny and charming, he unfortunately had a beard, something I found, at the time, to be a deal breaker. Time passed and my coworkers continued to drag me out of the office. And on one such night, I ended up meeting friends at Pour Bros, and as a result of many potential fortuitous events and encounters, so did Eric. You may call it coincidence or perhaps fate because just the day before Eric had decided… to shave his beard.