Erick's Perspective If we haven't told you already, Peyton and I met through mutual friends. Emily Rudd (maid of honor), Christian Jackson (groomsman) and I worked together at a kids camp for a couple summers called T Bar M. T Bar M camps has evidently allowed me to keep a circle of friends well past college summers living in bunk beds. I am thankful for these friendships that eventually led me to my future wife. When I moved to Dallas late October of 2019, I called Christian to invite him up and he told me he was moving up here in a couple months. We were both pumped to have a friend to take on a new city with. Christian came up to check out apartments a few weeks later and crashed on my couch for a night or two. In making plans for the weekend he planned for us to connect with Emily and her friend, Peyton, for drinks and to check out some bars in the area. When I met Peyton at Emily’s apartment I was instantly interested. If you know them, you know that Emily and Peyton together are the human personification of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character; a tornado of outgoing energy, goofiness and great charisma. For whatever reason they had a fake engagement ring that night, swearing that it was a useful tool in avoiding creeps at the bar. Through all my attempts to impress Peyton and make her laugh as much as she was cracking me up, I got the ring and got on a knee to propose in front of a bar full of people, promising it would inevitably led to someone buying us drinks as a "congratulations". Surprisingly, this did not get us free drinks but I think it must’ve solidified an idea in her head. A couple days later, I asked her out and we took her dog, Winston, to White Rock Lake Dog Park. This made for more than a 6 hour first date… typically a good sign. We met in an very inconvenient time. We were both extremely busy trying to expand our professional skills and juggle an active social life, and while all of that was going on the pandemic hit just a few months after meeting. We credit Christian and Emily for the sustainability of our friendship during this time, as we all hung out most Sunday nights together in what we called “The Supper Club.” Peyton and I routinely made them uncomfortable as we oozed chemistry in a clearly platonic setting. Through this time we kept up with each other, went out on dates when we could, and studied/worked together at coffee shops on the weekends. We stayed close enough to get to know each other more deeply and cheer each other on in our personal goals. When good things were happening we started being each other’s first call to celebrate. This awkward, "interested in each other" but "just friends" time gave us the opportunity to get to know each other through some challenging times and great accomplishments. This culminated in becoming “official” in October 2020, almost a year after we first met. Only 7 months later I sat down with her parents, Doug and Tammy, to let them know I wanted to marry Peyton. I had no timeline to make that happen or any financial plan to get a ring at the time but I knew that we wanted to build a life together and I set out to make that happen. 10 months later I was lucky enough to ask Peyton to be my lifetime partner, my challenger and teammate in everything that may come. Scroll down for that story!

Peyton's Perspective Erick and I talk about our life together quite often. What we want our marriage to look like, where we want to live, what we want to do, our goals, dreams and how we can support and encourage each other in those things. So, naturally, I figured a proposal was coming eventually. When you get to this point in a relationship I think you start to get suspicious of every little thing... and it doesn't help that Erick is a horrible liar and Emily (MOH) can't keep a secret to save her life! I knew something was in the works but I had no idea what Erick had in store for me. A few days before the proposal, Erick told me he had gotten a bonus at work (a lie, but an easy one to believe because he is the hardest worker I know) and he had made dinner reservations for that weekend at one of our favorite restaurants in Dallas, Terrelli's, to celebrate. The week leading up to it was a normal week. I had plans to get my nails done with my friend, Morgan (Bridesmaid) who SOMEHOW got me to get my nails done with her without arousing my suspicion. If you know me, you know I never get my nails done so everyone knew this was going to be a daunting task. She killed it! The day of the proposal I spent all morning with my mom. We talked, as we did almost every day at this point, about when I thought he might propose and she told me again, as she had been telling me for weeks, that Erick hadn't talked to her and my dad yet about proposing. Little did I know, Erick had talked to them a little under a YEAR prior about marrying me, my mom had been keeping my ring at her house for a week already AND a surprise engagement party was being set up at their house at that very moment! BIG s/o to my mom who continually kept throwing me off the rabbit trail! After dinner, while on our way to what I thought was a couple's shower for a friend from high school, Erick suggested we go get a drink to kill some extra time we had before the shower started. Erick suggested a bar near White Rock Lake and we started driving that way. Eventually Erick turned off onto a rocky road claiming that he wanted to "take a trip down memory lane" and drive by various spots around the lake that we had grown fond of throughout the course of our relationship. Our first date at the dog park, a bench we sat on for hours one night just talking and getting to know each other, the path where we ride our bikes together, etc. He eventually parked in a parking lot close to the lakeside. We got out of the car and he led me to a bench where a coffee table was set up with pictures of us throughout our relationship, a bible with my new name "Peyton L. Koster" engraved in it, and a bottle of champagne with two toasting flutes. We sat down on the bench and Erick flipped through my new bible and we reflected on a few verses that we had set as the foundation of our relationship. We reflected, once more, over what a Christ-centered marriage looked like and how important these verses were to turn back to throughout the remainder of our lives. He eventually moved from the bench, down to one knee and asked me to marry him. I, of course, said YES! Afterwards we celebrated with close family and friends at a "She Said Yes" party that my parents hosted for us. We have felt and continue to feel so much love and support from everyone around us and we cannot thank everyone who had a hand in this special day enough!