It was a yellow sundress that caught my attention during one of my first, early morning classes at Emory. While it was still a few months before I would actually meet her, there was definitely something about Alex that was special. We ended up meeting through a mutual friend later that year and a great friendship started to form. We had pretty similar class schedules and got to spend time together throughout the rest of the year. There were a lot of late night chats, study sessions, and goofing off in class together. When our second year at Emory started, we had grown really close and were pretty inseparable. We began “officially” dating after a Braves game date-party that year and had our first “real date” at Doc Chey’s, the campus noodle house. I got to enjoy the rest of my college experience with an amazing girl by my side, through date parties, crazy professors, and walking across the graduation stage. Next thing I knew we had found a great apartment in Midtown and the best dog either of us could ask for. It’s been 7 years since I saw that yellow dress, and almost a year since I asked her to marry me. I wouldn’t change a thing in the time between.

Matt was a guy that kept popping up in my friend circle early Freshman year and we were in a few classes together. I invited him to study with me for a psychology class a couple of days before a test, we chatted most of the night away and both still managed to pass. After that, we started hanging out more and our friend circles began to merge. It wasn't long until we were pretty inseparable. Second semester came and went, and we said our 'goodbyes' for the summer. I had the best intentions to stay in touch with all my friends from Freshman year but turns out, Matt was the only one I reliably texted and chatted with. My mom knew something was up when she let me know I was welcome to invite him home to Knoxville for any school break or long weekend. I resisted but admitted that if she laid eyes on him she would be making wedding plans for the two of us immediately. The Summer ended and I was moving back on campus. I texted Matt to let him know I was back while my mom and dad were helping me unload the car. He showed up no fewer than 10 minutes later, met my family and immediately got to work lifting the heavy stuff. We started dating in the middle of September and Matt invited me to go home with him to Boston in November for Thanksgiving break. I learned later that was a test - if mom, sisters, and all other lady cousins didn't approve, I was toast. Apparently, I passed the test. We started splitting holidays and building our schedules and lives around each other. We made some amazing memories and friendships throughout college, and there's no one I would have rather spent my time with than Matt. We graduated, moved into an apartment together, adopted the best dog around, moved to a different apartment, switched jobs, traveled all over and moved again. And still, there's no one else I want by my side through it all! We're getting married in the most "us" way possible - surrounded by our families, on foreign soil, embarking on new adventures.