Thank you all for being such an important part of our lives leading up to this special day. We are so excited to celebrate with you! Love, Kristina and Matt

While we knew of each other during the first few years of high school, our paths didn't fully cross until the first day of junior year in Accounting II. I picked a desk near my friends which also happened to be next to Matt. Since we had a few classes in common, we became study buddies over the course of the year. Calculus was a big struggle for me, but Matt was always so patient and helpful. After some time, our conversations expanded beyond schoolwork- we talked nonstop and met to walk together during passing periods, which sparked jokes about us becoming a couple. I soon found myself glancing in his direction during class (which distracted me to the point where I was scrambling to finish my final project). Matt used the excuse of my 17th birthday to take me out for ice cream, and we talked for hours. Now, Cold Stone holds a special place in our hearts, and the rest is history!

I got her real good. To celebrate our sixth dating anniversary, I treated us to a day in the city, staying at Navy Pier's Sable Hotel. A day that started with walking around and shopping turned into so much more. Kristina couldn't figure out why I kept insisting on going to a little restaurant (with less than stellar reviews) on the beach for dinner. As she would soon find out, the restaurant was just a ploy to get her to the park nearby. When we passed the entrance to Milton Lee Olive Park on our way to "dinner", I told her I wasn't that hungry yet and asked if she'd like to check out the park which we had never been to. Funny enough, as we were walking along the path, she even said "this would be such a cute place for you to propose someday!" Little did she know, the blue box was stashed in my bag and the photographer was already trailing us. You should've seen the look on her face shortly after when I got down on one knee. She was surprised again when our families arrived at dinner afterwards (not at the beach place) to celebrate with us!