It was a warm August afternoon at Hillsdale College. Nick had signed up to be a student mentor for incoming freshmen, fully expecting to recruit sweet dudes into the best fraternity on campus. Nick was assigned seven young ladies to his mentor group, and exactly zero dudes. Among the seven was a transfer sophomore named Gabriella. Gabriella had just transferred from GWU and was excited for a fresh start. As she approached her new mentor, Gabriella thought to herself: "Wow... he looks really annoyed.” This was the first thought she ever had of Nick, as he stood with his group number sign and his seven female mentees. Nick doesn’t remember their first meeting, but Gabriella sure does. Since that day, Gabriella and Nick have set out to disprove that first impressions mean anything at all. Fortunately, God had bigger plans for Gabriella and Nick. The next week, they bumped into each other at a party at the aforementioned best fraternity on campus. This time, Nick wised up and asked Gabriella for her number. She already had his. He had hand-written it and a fun fact ("I love baseball") on an index card for each of his mentees that first day in August. Gabriella still has that index card. After a completely appropriate three days, Nick finally reached out to Gabriella. Within a month, they were dating, despite Gabriella’s vow to not date at Hillsdale… oops. Over the last seven years, Gabriella and Nick have grown both together and separately as they went to school, lived in Colorado, and dated long distance for over two years. God has prepared them for marriage each day, through joy and difficulty. This is only the beginning of a lifelong journey of growing in Christ together as one flesh. His plan for their lives is patient, exciting, humbling, challenging, and full of His love. They are honored to have you, their family and friends, old and new, as witnesses to and participants in not only their special day, but their journey together as husband and wife.