I will admit... being set up on a ‘blind date’ for my sorority’s date night was a little nerve-wracking. I was nervous but excited to meet “that cute, tall guy” after a week of hearing how great he was! The night was off to a rough start when I reached out to shake Mark’s hand and he awkwardly introduced himself with a half smile and a loose handshake. I immediately thought Mark was a little rude because he was so quiet. I later learned that he was just extremely nervous! After five minutes, I realized that Mark was actually charming and funny (and that he talked A LOT). I knew he was the real deal when he challenged me to eat four slices of pizza. We had a lot of fun that night, but I didn’t get my hopes up right away. A few snapchats were exchanged over the course of the following week, and I impatiently awaited a text from him. After a week or so of playing hard to get, Mark caved and texted me. Our second date involved coffee and a Target run, and I think that describes our relationship all too well. I knew after a month of casually hanging out that Mark was the most patient, kind, and humble man I had ever met (aside from my daddy!). I am forever grateful that one of my best friends set me up with that cute, tall guy on October 24, 2014, and I can’t wait for all that is ahead!

As far as Anna knew, I was helping my friends organize our stuff for a trip to Yellowstone the following Wednesday, and I would head to Athens in time for our date to celebrate my birthday. Little did she know, I arrived in Athens at 8 am that morning to scope out the perfect spot in the UGA Founders Garden to pop the question. I got to Athens at 8 am for a proposal I tentatively scheduled for 5 pm. I realized by 8:45 am that I'd found the perfect spot but had a cover story that meant I would arrive in Athens at 3. I had 6 hours to kill with nowhere to go. So, what did I do? I went to Best Buy and played the free Xbox for 2 hours followed by narrowly missing Anna in Chipotle (seriously I missed her by less than 5 minutes). I finally made it to Anna’s house sometime in the afternoon. I tried to keep my cool (did a horrible job of this I later found out) while she got ready. Meanwhile, her two friends, Maddie and Emma, were creating an amazing display of flowers and candles in the spot I picked out that morning. Once they let me know the coast was clear, we went for a walk through North Campus “for old times’ sake”. I walked her to the spot where I knew they were set up (keep in mind I had no idea what it looked like either, so it was a surprise to me as well). Once we got to the spot, I got down on one knee…prepared to deliver the most profoundly romantic speech which I had rehearsed over and over…then completely forgot the whole thing because I was so nervous. I managed to simply stutter “will you marry me?” to which she simply nodded and smiled a lot. After the proposal, I had one last surprise for Annie. I told several of our friends about these plans, and they agreed to meet us at a bar in downtown Athens to celebrate. We arrived at Blue Sky Bar to an amazing group of friends toasting us with champagne. Asking the girl of my dreams to marry me in the place where we met surrounded by incredible friends was the best way I could imagine my proposal.