We're so excited to celebrate with you

Peter and I met at PLNU during my freshman year and his sophomore year. He was an RA on the notoriously loud boys' floor three levels above me. Peter and I had met a few times as his residents would often fly through the hall on their skateboards and almost run me over and Peter would run out and apologize for them. We didn’t really start talking until the spring semester of my freshman year, when I had to take the dreaded… *Calculus I*. After struggling on my own for about three days, I finally took my little booty into the Rohr Science Building for tutoring—where I was greeted by my future husband. He was wearing a pink T-shirt and a white snapback hat, and I instantly knew Peter and I were going to be great friends. People often ask me if I knew we were “destined” to be together, and I very honestly say no. We were just good friends—real friends. I knew that because I would go into tutoring, cry through calculus problems, and Peter would look at me with his kind eyes and say, “Let’s take a break.” For about two years after tutoring session, our friendship continued. We’d go on long walks at Sunset Cliffs, looking at the big houses and talking about what we’d change and the futures we imagined for ourselves. It was completely platonic… though I’ll admit that at some point I thought, *maybe*—just maybe—I could like this guy a little more. Things started to shift in the latter half of summer 2023. We began talking weekly while I was back home in Seattle and he was still in San Diego. When I moved into my junior-year dorm, my furniture placement was… questionable, so naturally I called Peter to help move my bed. Romantic? No. But I definitely heard plenty of comments from my friends that day: “Oh Bella Gunning, you’ve got it bad for that boy.” I hadn’t really thought of Peter romantically—until September 9th. We were studying together in a dark room (and by “together,” I mean on opposite sides with sterile florescent LED light). When he said, “Let’s go, I’m done,” I showed him my “secret” aloe plant. I jokingly ripped some off and smeared it on his face, and we both started laughing uncontrollably. It was lighthearted and easy—and that’s when I realized I had real feelings for this nerdy kind guy I knew so well. We ended up having a serious conversation about relationships, and somehow, in the middle of it all… we kissed. Aloe slime and all. Total ~sparks-flying~ moment. And now, three years later, here we are—getting married. What a wild journey of friendship, adventure, love, and wonder we’ve shared. I’ll always be grateful for that fateful Calculus class.

She's everything I could've wished for, and then some. Even before we started dating, there were moments that we'd share that I couldn't find with anyone else in the world, moments that were so unique and exciting and life-filling that it was impossible not to imagine spending the shortest eternity on Earth with her. I'd find myself in difficult places or exhausted spaces and still, a single text or voice memo or call or knock on the door from her would shock me back to a world that's not so hard, giving me pause to breathe and laugh and discover life again. If you know Bella, you know that you've never met anyone quite like her before. You'd see her walk down the halls in her Vans or high tops and jean shorts, notice her perfect smile and hear her precious laugh, but never once were you sure that you could predict the next sentence out of her mouth. Her candidness and *slight* sarcasm kept you on your toes, but her authenticity and insight also melted walls with people who don't often put down their guard. For the people I connected with one way, she would connect with in a completely different way that would expose new sides to them I'd never seen, so for me, she was already the perfect partner in crime. As friends, we made a good team, but as a couple, we're kinda unstoppable. For some reason, I was lucky enough to be someone she confided in during both the good times and the difficult. Sometimes it meant giving a hug in her taco slippers at 1am, and sometimes it meant a debrief walking along the cliffs, and sometimes it meant sitting together at the crying spot by the gym. Either way, I was grateful that she chose me, and that I was lucky enough to be there for her, even just as a friend. I will say, however, I'm much happier as her fiancée. Please don't get me wrong. On one fateful night, just three nights after she smothered by face in aloe that maybe wasn't aloe but instead a random sappy plant, we sat on the stairs of the math and science building as I told her that I didn't want to date, that I wasn't ready to commit to a relationship in that moment. I felt guilty for liking her, I felt guilty for sharing such precious moments, I felt guilty that I might ruin this wonderful friendship that I had never found anywhere else in the world. I knew that I couldn't be her rock, that I had to take care of myself and that I needed to know the next person I dated wouldn't entirely rely on me. And curiously, there on concrete steps and without prompting, Bella told me that she had good friends and that she didn’t need me to be her everything. And for the first time in a while, I felt like this could work. Ever since then, I have been nothing but thankful for her reassurances as we've grown together, the love that she's poured into our relationship, and for the ability to make something beautiful together. I will say this over and over and over again, but there's no one else who makes me more excited to live life. I'm so grateful for the people who have brought me this far, but for the first time in my life I could see the direction my life could take for the better would be with her. I envision her and myself, old and wrinkled with age, giggling about something funny she said or eating at the Costco food court on a random Sunday afternoon or falling asleep next to each other in the afternoon sunshine. I know that this life that we'll live together will have many struggles, with love and laughter but also pain and sadness, and there's no one else I'd rather do it all with. So, for Bella Gunning who will read this later, it would be an honor, a privilege and a joy to be your husband. For everyone else, it would be the (second) most wonderful thing for us to have you there at our wedding. We love you all :)