The short version: we met through mutual friends The long version: Mitchell Pearson and Sam Griffin became friends in middle school in Edwardsville, IL. Sam began dating Brooke Lunn (now Brooke Griffin) in their sophomore year of high school. A couple years passed, and Sam and Brooke were now freshmen at Saint Louis University, while Mitchell was at another school. At SLU, Sam and Brooke became friends with a boy from Minnesota named Nick Schaper. Their sophomore year, Nick began dating a girl named Sarah Melulis (now Sarah Schaper). Sarah and Brooke immediately became best friends, and the four of them were inseparable. The next year, Sarah's sister Katherine started her freshman year at SLU. She was welcomed into their little group with open arms and became their "fifth wheel". Katherine and Mitchell first met at Brooke's undergraduate graduation on December 14, 2018. They met again the following summer at Sam and Brooke's wedding, where Mitchell was the Best Man. Katherine's mother referred to him as "Sam's cute friend Mitchell" from then on. Sarah and Nick got married a couple years later, and Mitchell attended their wedding. Sam decided to take Mitchell's love life into his own hands and began trying to introduce him to every one of his single female friends at the wedding except for Katherine (a disappointing oversight). A month later, Mitchell was officially moved back to St. Louis after finishing grad school and was invited to a small 4th of July party at Sarah and Nick's house, where Katherine and Mitchell finally had their first real conversation after all these years of bumping into each other. Mitchell asked Sam for Katherine's phone number and asked her on a dinner date. Three years later, he asked Katherine to marry him. A special thank you to Sam, Brooke, Nick, and Sarah for being the invisible string that tied us together. We couldn't imagine celebrating our wedding day without you.