we're getting married!

Henry and I officially met in September 2014, when we were both sophomores at Bradley University living in the same residence hall. We both decided to join Hall Council, which was essentially a club that planned fun social events for the rest of the dorm residents. The first thing we did together in Hall Council was attend a retreat at Laura Bradley Park (where our ceremony will be)! Neither of us remember officially meeting that day, but the rest of the year we were casual acquaintances in Hall Council!

Fast forward 2 years to when we were starting our senior year at Bradley, and a myriad of things fell into place which caused Henry and I to cross paths a lot more often. Our friend group had a ton of fun together doing various college things, and I started to realize how fun Henry was to hang out with (he even pretended to like homework and Law & Order SVU in order to spend more time together!) In November 2016, I invited Henry to my sorority's semi-formal (which is basically like a dinner and a dance where we get dressed up). I remember being nervous to ask him because I thought he'd say no! I made one of my roommates come with me to ask him and luckily, he said yes! One week after semi-formal, he invited me to go to his house (after I kept hinting that I wanted him to take me on a plane ride). So one Sunday, we made the 2.5 hour drive from Peoria to Paloma. I did in fact, get to ride in the plane piloted by Henry, and the rest is history! I know a life with Henry will always be fun and full of excitement and love! We're so excited to celebrate our life together with all of you!

It didn't take long in our relationship for the two of us to be certain we wanted to build our lives together. In the summer of 2019, my long established plan for a proposal finally began to fall into place. In order to maintain a surprise for Abi, I kept her out of the loop with regard to getting a ring. With advice and guidance from Megan, I was able to use one of the diamonds from Abi's mom's wedding ring. With this step accomplished, it was time to set up the surprise proposal. In late August of that summer, we planned to go to Peoria to visit Abi's family. Before traveling, I let Abi know that I had scheduled a professional photographer to take some "summer pictures" at Laura Bradley Park. Unrelatedly, Megan also suggested to Abi that the two of them get their nails done. But this weekend was just a ruse to throw Abi off the scent of a proposal. The next weekend, we were back in Indianapolis and I had made dinner plans at a new restaurant. After parking the car a few blocks from the restaurant, we walked across the American Legion Park. Stopping in the middle by a fountain, I stopped Abi and told her that this spot was actually the destination for the time being. Against the backdrop of the park and the city, I got down on one knee and asked Abi; "Will you marry me?"