Told from the groom’s perspective

Natalie and I met through a mutual friend that I befriended through a rather fortuitous circumstance. Freshman year of college, prior to my first ever class at the University of Michigan, I decided I needed to meet some new people, and the person I sat next to was Samantha Luthy. Sam is a close friend to Natalie and after a few study sessions I was introduced to her. Natalie was attending Loyola University Chicago, so even though we were introduced we weren't able to grow our relationship until later in our college careers. Fast forward to senior year, and Natalie was visiting for the Michigan vs. MSU football game. Once we were done trash talking about the game we finally had our opportunity to get to know each other better. She went back to Chicago but we stayed in constant communication. She would share songs that she loved and I would try to get her to hate country music slightly less. Eventually I got up the courage to ask her out officially…

I asked Natalie to get dinner with me at Palio in Ann Arbor while she was home for the holidays in 2018. I could tell she was a little more hesitant about starting a long distance relationship so part of me was preparing for rejection. She gave me the chance I was hoping for and we enjoyed a lovely dinner getting to know each other.

After our first date we really started growing our relationship. We would make regular trips to see each other and started having conversations about what after college would look like. I started working in Southfield and Natalie moved home to Plymouth. It was amazing getting to see her without a train ride in between us for the first time. Eventually we moved into an apartment together, and we adopted our cat Hazel. We lived there until I decided to pursue a new career and went back to school in South Carolina. All of a sudden we were back long distance. Natalie was incredible and visited me multiple times as well as helping me move down and back home. When we drove back we moved into a new apartment, which is where I finally proposed…

On November 5, 2022, I planned for Natalie's family and friends to keep her occupied throughout the day. Meanwhile I went shopping with a couple of new recipes in hand and got to work prepping the nicest dinner I could cook from scratch that was within my limited cooking ability. When Natalie came home I was dressed up, the apartment was lit with candles, and the table was set for dinner. We had been discussing the timing of a potential proposal and had already been ring shopping so the moment she walked I'm sure she knew what was coming. I still waited until after we finished our dessert before going down on one knee. Her answer made me the luckiest man alive and took our relationship to an entirely new level. We celebrated that evening with our family and friends. Shortly after, we began planning the wedding that we are both so excited for you to attend with us!