WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

Little did I know that the girl who started out as a friend I met during my first week of college would one day turn into the absolute love of my life. In fact, there are still days I wake up and am in disbelief that I ended up with such an incredible person. Megan and I met through our mutual friend (and now bridesmaid) Gabby, who invited Megan to come play sand volleyball with us one day during our freshman year at UT. Unbeknownst to me, Megan confided in Gabby that she had a slight crush on me from the beginning, which I managed to miss entirely. We proceeded to form a strong friendship over the next two and a half years of college. We grew closer together through our shared group of wonderful friends, as well as our Catholic faith and involvement in the church on campus. It wasn't until fall of our junior year in 2018 that things began to change. We spent the whole night dancing together at a wedding, after which I began to see Megan in a completely new way. Week by week I found myself finding more and more excuses to be in her company. I was drawn into increasingly deep and meaningful conversations with her, until one fateful camping trip where I officially fell head over heels. We found ourselves camping out with a group of completely underpacked and underprepared friends, who got lost in the dark, were barely able to start a fire, and whose tents collapsed in a sleet storm in the early hours of the morning. Despite it being literally the worst, wettest, coldest outdoor experience I've ever had, I came away somehow having had the best time. When I realized that the only reason it was so enjoyable was because I spent the whole weekend with Megan, I knew I had to do something about it. So after a little bit of meddling from our friends Gabby and Noah, I had some inkling that our feelings were mutual and asked her out on our first date the very next day. We continued dating for three and a half years, some of which was long distance while we were in graduate school. Dating long distance had its challenges, but making it through those challenges solidified our relationship even more. It proved that if we could make it through that, we could make it through anything. I proposed to Megan on May 7th, 2022 when I was in Columbus for her master's graduation. We spent the whole day going around the city doing a tour of our favorite places, interspersed with a few new adventures we wanted to get in before she moved down to North Carolina. We ended the day at the Scioto Mile down by the river where I had a collage of photos and candles spelling out "Marry Me?" waiting for us. She made me the happiest man in the world by saying yes and continues to do so every day. We have been having so much fun getting to explore a new state and spending more quality time together since we've both moved to Raleigh. We couldn't be more excited for our upcoming journey as husband and wife, and we are equally as excited to share the happiest day of our lives with all of you!