Our love story begins all the way back to our junior year of high school. We did not meet at a school event or through a mutual friend hangout, but instead through the lovely app Snapchat. In fact, we actually had friended each other on Instagram a few years prior, but didn’t actually start to talk until a few years later when Leighton decided to shoot his shot. Luckily, I (Tailyn) remembered the cute boy from Instagram and decided to add him back on Snapchat. After a few weeks of not actually talking to each other, we eventually started a streak, like all the cool kids did, which eventually led to us talking through Snapchat, which then led to us Facetiming each other nightly, which then led to Leighton asking me out on our very first date. Our first date was a classic high school sweetheart first date: a scary movie and some food after. We drove together to Marcus Theater, but first, we had to stop to get some not overly priced candy to sneak into the theater. The car drive went great as we learned more about each other than we could over Facetime. Once we got to the movie, Leighton made all the right moves, like putting his arm around me and paying for everything, like a true gentleman. After the somewhat mediocre scary movie, we went for some Pancheros and then back to his parents house to hangout some more. From here, we decided we had to see each other again and planned to hangout that next weekend. By May 28th, 2021, Leighton was ready to ask me to be his girlfriend where I of course said yes! Through the course of the year, we went to all the school dances, met each other's friends, spent almost every weekend at one of each other's parents house, and supported each other in all of our school activities. Eventually, as we neared our graduations, we decided we wanted to move in with each other after high school. So, we did exactly that. We moved down to Cedar Rapids where we learned together about all the ups and downs of adulthood, but through this, we were able to grow together as well. After a few months of living together, we also decided to get our beloved fur-son, Patrick, thanks to a great discount. A year later, we decided to move closer to our families in Cedar Falls, which brings us to our engagement! In May 2024 we celebrated our 3rd anniversary together. Now, after months and months of egging me on about a big surprise gift he was getting me for our anniversary, our big celebration day came. Leighton planned a pretty great day for us to celebrate each other with us first going mini golfing, where he beat me for the first time in our relationship. From here we shopped at my favorite stores, did some bowling, and eventually went out to eat at the Brown Bottle. Being the most underdressed people there, we had quite a laugh, however, after our food came, Leighton was complaining about some stomach issues (aka nerves), so we decided to head to the next spot Leighton had planned for us to go on our big day. Originally, he had planned for us to just go to Hurts Donuts, but Leighton quickly decided going on a walk would be a good idea. So we went for a walk, but not the way in which Leighton wanted too. The sidewalk was closed due to recent flooding, so through some quick thinking, Leighton detoured us to this cute area behind Urban Pie, which is also a parking lot. We walked for a bit, but then Leighton suddenly stopped. Oblivious to the fact that he kept standing in one spot fumbling with something in his back pocket, I kept looking around and thought I had found a cute dog park that I noted we should take Patrick to sometime. After noticing Leighton wasn’t turning to where I was pointing and then Leighton turning me towards him, he got on one knee and asked the big question! And now we are here, ready to celebrate our love with all of our loved ones! We have been waiting for this day for years and are so happy that we get to enter this new stage of life as husband and wife with all of you present!