I worked in the student financial services office all 4 years of college, and even in the summer a couple of years! I would answer phone calls and emails the majority of the day. One summer day I took a phone call from a boy who had terrible service and the call kept getting dropped. Any normal person might wait until they had better service to call back, but this boy called back one right after the other about 15 times in a row, laughing through the phone trying to hurry and get his point across. Finally, he gave up and called back a couple of hours later and we laughed it off. I never forgot his name... ;)

Fast forward to the first week of my junior year and my roommate and I were investigating who was living on our floor. We knew we had some friends at the very end of the boys side of the hall, so we were walking that way when I noticed a familiar name outside one of the doors. I told my roommate the funny story about all of the calls from a couple months back and we went on our way. On the way back through we ran into Ethan, introduced ourselves, and from there we became attached at the hip! We even happened to have a class together that semester and worked together to start a campus club!

Let's not forget one minor detail about that day we met and became friends. Ethan had a very serious girlfriend he never shut up about. I found myself telling my roommate I wanted a guy just like Ethan Ritchie, and if he ever became single I would be all over that opportunity! Something I assumed would never happen lol - fortunately for our story though, it did happen! So I waited patiently until I felt like I could share my feelings. Fast forward a semester, one day the two of us were in my dorm room and Ethan took a call from his dad. Mid conversation Ethan mentioned my name, and his dad cut him off and said, "Mariah, like the one you said you'd marry?" - You can imagine my surprise (and giddiness that I did not hide well lol) - It wasn't long after that that I finally told him I liked him, even though he would tell you he already knew. He still made me wait a whole 6 months after this to officially date, just to make sure I was sticking around. Little did he know I was ready to date him the day we met!

It was no surprise to me that Ethan and I would end up here. The day I met him I knew he was husband material. Once we were a couple, the timeline conversations began, and we established our ideal plan! - focus on graduating, then get engaged and married shortly after. I had suspicions all summer long that it would happen any day! We made plans with my cousin's sweet girlfriend to take some photos for her portfolio, and during the shoot I turned around to Ethan on one knee. He surprised me afterward with a party waiting for us with all of our friends and family- even one of my best friends from Colorado! The rest of the weekend was filled with beach trips, meals, coffee, church & adventures with all of our closest friends. It was the best weekend of my life! We are so excited to get married!!!