It all started because of our meddling (we love you!) moms and a mutual friend. It was a perfect storm. Pete was displaced due to the May 2024 tornadoes that came through Tallahassee early one morning and had to stay with his mom for a month because he had no electricity. One evening, Pete's mom, Shelly, asked him if he wanted to go to dinner with their friends, the Grubers, and Pete decided to join them. At the end of dinner, when the checks arrived, Pete mentioned that he hadn’t gone out to dinner like this in a while. Suddenly, it clicked! The Grubers knew a great single gal and floated the idea to Pete… who just laughed at the thought. A few weeks prior, Angie Gruber had gone out to dinner with Kelly’s mom, Pam, who had been asking her for years if she knew any good single guys. Angie, Pam, and Kelly had all worked together for a year at DeSoto Trail Elementary School, so Angie had gotten to know Kelly well during that time. Okay, back to Pete at dinner with his family and the Grubers. Pete left, and his family and the Grubers continued on with their night. The conspiring commenced. Pete’s mom was thrilled at the possibility of him meeting someone, so Angie texted Kelly’s mom and floated the idea to her. Kelly’s mom was just as thrilled! Suddenly, Pete’s and Kelly’s mothers were quickly sending Angie pictures of their cute faces—completely unbeknownst to Kelly and Pete. During that time, Kelly was at her parents’ house and walked into the room to find her mom staring at her phone with a huge grin on her face. She said, “Someone is trying to matchmake for you.” Kelly, slightly confused but intrigued, went with it and agreed to have her phone number shared. Pete had no idea any of this was happening until his mom got home and filled him in. She passed along Kelly’s number, and the ball was in Pete’s court. The next day, Pete took his time deciding whether he was even going to reach out to Kelly—which he almost didn’t. He’s very happy he did, though, because the second he reached out, they never stopped talking. A week later, they had their first date at Lucky Goat Coffee. Later, during a conversation, they realized they had both gone into the date with low expectations but were pleasantly surprised. The hours flew by before Kelly realized she was late to pick up the keys to her new apartment. They said their goodbyes, both privately realizing that their lives had just changed, knowing instantly that this was something special.

From trying new restaurants together, to FSU tailgates, to many trips over the last year and a half—with their favorite being their first trip to a rented cabin in Dahlonega, Georgia, visiting Wolf Mountain Vineyards—they have also cherished the simple moments of life: just being together, making memories, and trying to relax while smushed on the couch with their three dogs, Chloe, Dessie, and Nina. Unfortunately, a couple months after we wrote this, our sweet Chloe unexpectedly passed away. We miss her so much, and plan to incorporate her memory at the wedding.

A few months into dating, both Pete and Kelly realized they could go the distance together! As summer approached, they wanted to take a trip to the mountains and decided on Gatlinburg, Tennessee. A cabin was booked, and Pete realized this was the perfect opportunity to propose! Kelly also had a pretty good feeling that it was going to happen on this trip, because in the weeks leading up to it, she had asked Pete several times if there were any specific activities he wanted to do in Gatlinburg or if he just wanted to go with the flow. Pete insisted he wanted to go with the flow. Then, a week before the trip, Pete suddenly said they should go to a nice dinner the day after they arrived in Gatlinburg and then watch the sunset at an overlook. Kelly found that very suspicious! Off to Gatlinburg they went! Once there, Kelly asked Pete what time their dinner reservation was for the next night. Pete said it was at 4:45 p.m.—to which Kelly replied, “What!? Why so early?” She was then informed that the overlook was an hour away from the restaurant… bringing out another “What!?” from Kelly. The next day, they got dressed up, and a nervous Pete paced around the cabin. They left for dinner, and when they arrived at the restaurant, they were greeted by a very nice server who was extremely thorough. He spent ten minutes going over the entire menu. They ordered an appetizer, which came quickly, but the server didn’t come back for a while—due to that same thorough nature. Pete grew more and more anxious as time passed, quickly sipping on his Scotch to the point where Kelly had to ask, “Are you good?” Pete waved down the server to take their order. He ordered the Beef Wellington and Kelly ordered the salmon. Pete was now really sweating bullets because, unbeknownst to Kelly, he had people waiting at the proposal site. As the minutes ticked by, Pete suddenly blurted out, “This is ridiculous! We should just get our food to go and leave.” Kelly looked at him with an “are you kidding me?” expression and said, “Well, can I at least have a bite of it first?” Pete flagged down the server once more and explained that they had somewhere they needed to be soon, asking if they could get their food to go. The server apologized and mentioned he should have told them about the Beef Wellington’s long cook time. Their food finally arrived, they each took a bite, and off they went to the overlook—or so Kelly thought. An hour later, Kelly thought to herself: This better be the best sunset overlook ever—because she was hungry. As they neared the location, Kelly noticed they weren’t near any cliff sides but instead out in the countryside. They pulled up to Colley Hill Farms in Dandridge, Tennessee, and parked outside a barn. Pete quickly realized they were in the wrong spot, so back up the dirt road they went. They eventually arrived at the pavilion, got out of the car, and walked around. Waiting for them were “Marry Me” letters, a table filled with charcuterie, wine, and a photographer and videographer hiding in a closet. Pete nervously and quickly dropped to one knee—and two people jumped out of the closet, startling Kelly—but she happily said yes! The next two hours were spent taking engagement photos along the mountain countryside as the sun set. When it was time to head back to the cabin, they got into the car and immediately realized it reeked of Beef Wellington and salmon. Kelly joked that hopefully a bear wouldn’t break in. The next morning, Pete and Kelly got up to go to brunch. When they opened the front door, they discovered that a bear had, in fact, broken into Pete’s car—hoping to enjoy a $200 takeout meal—but was sadly disappointed. It was a wild adventure to start a lifetime of adventures together!