We're Getting Married!!

When I started my sophomore year at University of Arkansas, I decided to join Kappa Delta sorority. It was there that I met my friend and future bridesmaid, Megan. For my first Razorback football game I texted Megan to go together. Throughout the day I met some of my lifelong best friends, many of whom are in our wedding party now. After the football game we went to our apartment pool to cool off from the hot Arkansas weather. Ryan and I met for the first time and you could say it wasn't quite love at first sight. Ryan can often be quoted as saying "I wasn't too concerned because I didn't think I would ever see her again". Little did he know... Throughout the fall Ryan and I became good friends and spent most weekends together with the same friend group. I spent many days driving him and his roommate, Niels (also in our wedding party) around Fayetteville. Slowly, Ryan became one of my best friends. At Christmas time we went to our first sorority function together and over Christmas break we started to text every day. We became inseparable during the spring semester. As the semester ended, I recall driving home to Texas together and dropping Ryan off at his home in Dallas. I bawled the whole way down the rest of his street. That was when I knew I wanted to be more than friends. A month later I came to Dallas to visit Ryan and told him that I loved him while we were two-stepping at Red River. The rest is history...

After graduation, Jill and I both moved back to North Texas to pursue our degrees in medicine and law. Shortly after graduating last year, I realized the time had come to propose (my siblings will exasperatedly say “the time had come WELL before then!” And they are right, of course.) As Jill, my sisters Meaghan and Kelley, and I studied for med school boards or the bar exam this summer, we agreed that a socially distanced week at the beach would be the perfect antidote for all our stress. I already had the ring and planned to wait to propose until after the bar exam. But I couldn’t wait. We spent several contented days in the sun (I spent it in the shade under our pop-up wearing long-sleeves and a wide-brimmed hat; I love the sun, but the sun does not love me.). In typical fashion, I had no plan: I had the ring, we were at the beach, and my sisters were prepared to digitally capture the moment, whenever it arose. One evening, Jill suggested exchange our swimsuits for real clothes for a sunset photo op on the beach. Perfect. As Jill and Kelley got ready, Meaghan managed to smuggle a couple bottles of champagne back to the beach for the big moment. Jill and I posed with the blue-green water to our backs as Meaghan and Kelley innocently snapped pics. One of the last pictures before I got down on one knee shows Jill, arms akimbo and leaning towards me in an aggressive stance, telling me exactly what she thought of a playful quip I had just uttered to her. I won’t repeat her precise words: suffice it to say that I fell in love with Jill just as much for her sassy, take-no-shit attitude as for her sweet heart. As we turned to face the water, I glanced back at my sisters with a look of excited anticipation as I reached into my pocket for the ring. I was so nervous I could barely speak the words. Jill couldn’t believe it at first—she suspected it was a prank (a very fair suspicion). But when she realized the question (and the ring) was real, she very quickly said yes.