I had known who Keith was for several (okay, like 6) years before we actually met. He graduated from Center Grove high school in 2009; I graduated from Mt. Vernon high school two years later in 2011. Following graduation, Keith attended Indiana State University on a football scholarship. He was gray-shirted his freshman year due to injury, so they roomed him with a guy from my high school who was also gray-shirted (Tyler Stafford, one of the groomsmen). Tyler would post photos of his new college roommate/teammate on his Facebook page and all us high school girls at Mt. Vernon would see them and thought Keith was the hottest thing ever. We all proceeded to collectively stalk him through Facebook for the next several years. Fast forward 6 years to 2015 and I started seeing another friend of mine, Kalen Wilkes, posting photos of her new Indiana State PA class on social media. Guess who’s in the photos…Keith Dietel! At this point, I figured it was fate. I was single and had just started PA school at IU in Indianapolis, so I patiently waited until October of that year to make my move. On October 8, 2015 Keith and the rest of his PA class were in Indianapolis for a few days to attend the IAPA conference. The Colts were playing on Thursday night football that night, so our mutual friends planned for everyone to meet at Kilroys for the game. I walked in and actually caught Keith on his way to the bathroom; we shared an awkward one-armed hug next to the bar and the rest is history!!!

We had been living in our apartment for over a year, and I couldn’t think of a better place to propose than our favorite tiny home together. So, after purchasing the ring and asking her father’s permission, I devised a plan where Lakin and I would be out on a romantic dinner date while our friends and family would all meet at our apartment for the surprise. While we enjoyed a lovely meal at Vida, everyone was at our apartment transforming it into the perfect proposal spot. I had given strict instructions on exactly how to set up the decorations, flowers, candles, and our GoPro video camera to capture it all. After we finished our meals, we headed directly back to the apartment where everyone was hiding behind the building. We parked, made our way to the building, and slowly walked up the stairs. The sweating, shaking, and basically blacking out was in full swing. As we opened the door, it took awhile for Lakin to realize exactly what was happening, but once she did it was a constant expression of disbelief. I slowly guided her to our balcony which overlooks the Indianapolis skyline, got on one knee, and with a little help from the advice given to me by my late grandfather, I asked the love of my life to be my wife. While all this was happening, our friends and family walked around the building to in front of our balcony to surprise Lakin. After some champagne and a toast, we all headed to Rathskeller for dinner/drinks and finished the night at the Vogue to see Lakin’s favorite college cover-band, Rod Tuffcurls and the Benchpress. What a night! We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you.