They say the best love stories start with friendship, and Matthew and Julia are living proof of that. Their story began during Welcome Week of their freshman year at the University of Minnesota, when they were introduced by their mutual friend — and future maid of honor — Emily. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight, but Julia remembers thinking, “Matthew Freeman is going to make some girl very happy one day.” Over the next few years, their friendship grew through countless late nights with their shared friend group — playing board games, cheering on the Gophers, going to Kappa Sigma parties, competing in intramural ultimate frisbee, and bonding over new music they discovered. With the help of numerous car rides with Ava Max on repeat, a spring break trip to Florida, and several fraternity date parties, by the spring of their Junior year that friendship turned into something more. From that moment on, Matthew and Julia have been inseparable — navigating milestones side by side: graduating college (twice for our bride!), starting their careers, buying their first home, and exploring new places together. After months of not-so-subtle hints from Julia regarding her hopes for an upcoming proposal, Matthew crafted a series of thoughtful dates, planning to pop the question during one of them. On the first date, he took her out for sushi followed by a six-mile walk through a nature preserve. Despite a few convincing fake-outs, there was no ring that night and Julia left a little heartbroken. But a week later, on a second walk (this one much shorter), Matthew finally got down on one knee and asked Julia to marry him. She said yes, of course, and now Julia gets to spend forever as the lucky girl who ends up with Matthew!