We're getting married! We can't wait to celebrate with you!

My friend Keegan had come into town for the Drake Relays races and wanted to go to Peggy’s on Thursday night. It took no convincing on his part for me to join in. We went to the Peggy’s Tent, as is tradition, and were talking with a friend who was a couple years younger than us named Alex. Then a beautiful girl had approached Alex and told him that he owed her a drink from earlier in the day. Alex turned to us and asked if we also wanted a drink, which we of course accepted. Keegan went with him to help carry the drinks, leaving myself and this beautiful girl alone. Needless to say, that girl was Gaby. We kept talking the rest of the night and even got a few pictures together on her phone. I thought we were hitting it off. When it came to bar close, I didn’t want the night to end, so I had asked her if she wanted to grab pizza next door from Fong’s (thinking who would turn down free pizza). She replied “I’m actually supposed to be leaving with…(at this point she started spinning)…those guys” and pointed to a random group of guys. Walking back to the car, Keegan had asked who I had been talking to and then had informed me that he thought she was engaged based off the ring on her finger. So, I thought to myself “She had about 14 Peggy’s cups and I didn’t buy all of those…well played Gaby, you worked the system and got some free drinks out of me”. That next morning, I had a work call with my friend Dusty, who also was a Drake alum and was familiar with Gaby’s sorority. I couldn’t let the night before go as I really thought Gaby and I hit it off. So, I asked Dusty if he knew of a Gaby in Kappa and if she was engaged. He said he know who she was and that he didn’t even think she was dating anyone, let alone engaged. This gave me some hope, until I thought about how she still blew me off at the end of the night. Over the course of Friday and Saturday, I had chatted with some friends about what I should do, and the consensus was to forget about it and maybe run into her by chance downtown sometime. That wasn’t good enough for me, so I went back to Peggy’s on Saturday night in hopes of running into her again. If anyone has been to Peggy’s on the Saturday of Relays, you know that’s like finding a needle in a haystack, but I thought if there was even the slightest chance of seeing her again, I had to do it. Again, I stayed until bar close and did not see Gaby. The next day, after much deliberation, I ultimately decided to send her a Facebook friend request before going into church on Sunday afternoon. When I came out of church, I looked at my phone and realized some of my prayers had been answered, as she had accepted the friend request. I spent the rest of the night trying to craft a message that didn’t make me look like a loser. While I was brainstorming, my phone dinged, and I looked and Gaby had sent me a Facebook message. She had sent me the pictures we had taken on Thursday night with the caption “Congrats y’all made it into the minimal relays photos I took”. We haven’t stopped talking since. *See photos for the pictures from the night we met :)

As any Drake student or alum knows - Drake Relays are the best time of the year. My friends and I looked forward to the Peggy's Tent all year long (we still do). That being said, it was one of the last places I would ever expect to meet my future husband - ESPECIALLY during my Senior year of college, as I was trying to figure out what to do with my life post grad. Cue Mr. Aaron Kuethe. A lesser known Drake Relays event that occurs each year are the annual Beer Olympics! Being the collegiate athletes that my friends and I were, we naturally had a team for these grueling events - we trained all year for this! ;) On the Thursday of Drake Relays was the much anticipated Chug & Run. I'll spare the details of this event, as the only part that is really relevant here is that the final leg of this relay ended up at the Peggy's Tent, where Aaron was. Following our race I went and tracked down an alumni friend of mine, Alex, who happened to be in town for Relays. Earlier in the day he had promised to buy me a drink at the tent, and as a college student I was not going to pass that free Gin & Tonic up! It just so happened that at the same time that I approached Alex to cash in my free drink, Aaron was also in the midst of conversation with him. Alex offered to grab everyone drinks as well, leaving Aaron and I alone to talk. We ended up hanging out and talking until bar close, evening grabbing a few photos together. As the night was ending, Aaron offered to grab some pizza together at Fong's right beside Peggy's. Being the SMART, SAFE girl that I am (who has also seen my share of crime documentaries), I declined and found a group of friends (WHO I VERY MUCH KNEW - see Aaron's contradiction here ;) ) who were also headed back to Greek Street to walk back with. In the days after relays I continued to think of Aaron, but didn't know if we'd ever see each other again with my graduation approaching, and being unsure of where I would end up post grad. Thankfully, Aaron had a coworker, Dusty, who I also had known from Drake. Aaron managed to track me down on Facebook with the help of Dusty. As soon as he added me, I decided to send him the photos that we'd taken that night, and the conversation hasn't ended since. I think the saying is, the rest is history.