CHICAGO, HERE WE COME!

As most of you know, KT and Matt have known each other a long time. A really REALLY long time, actually. Long enough that they each remember it a little differently.... One thing they DO agree on, though is that they first met in 3rd grade. KT knew she wanted to date me from the first. It was a little embarrassing for her, actually. She'd find ways to try to get my attention, like "date my best friend" and "ignore me largely for most of our childhood," Oh, sure - we were band nerds together and I hung out at her house from time to time, but I managed to keep my distance from her despite her obvious interest. Eventually I figured I'd give her her shot. Of course, that took a few years of her continued attempts, not to mention more little cries for attention like "moving to Florida" but when she flew up to Illinois to see me, I knew that she was hooked. It was easy to see why - I was bartending while she was midway through vet school, so she may have been after my money and prospects. Whatever the reason, it seemed to work out for us - a long-distance relationship between ILL and FLA is super fun for anyone. But on a lark I decided to move down to Florida, completely unrelated to her. Then, since I thought it might be funny, I got into grad school at UF and we ended up living together. It wasn't very serious, but we did end up moving together after graduating, then heading back into long distance relationship status while I held down my architecture career and she bounced around playing with horses, or whatever it is Equine Surgeons do. I hear internships and residencies are pretty easy. But I did eventually decide to make my way to Colorado for the mountains, and luckily for her she was actually already there, so the long distance thing was over. We made some new friends, and since I saw a big payday in the future once she wrapped up her residencies I figured I'd lock that down. The engagement and the ring went about as smoothly as anything - I didn't need to ask her twice or fire two jewelers or anything. Now here we are, in Montana together, getting married. Pretty psyched.

How did they meet? Grade 3, Trinity Christian Academy, Addison, TX. Further encounters would include Middle and High School Band shenanigans, various platonic school dance experiences, and Matt working for KT's mom building horse jumps in the garage in Plano. Fast forward to grad school, nearing the end of year one (for those of us with 4 year doctorate degrees). The wonders of social media have kept Matt and KT *intermittently* and *distantly* in contact. A war of punny one liners and witty comebacks is waged via text message, some good old acoustic guitar songs are recorded (here's looking at you, WonderWall), feelings are shared. The big problem emerges... Matt is bar tending in his college town in Illinois, while KT is studying in Florida. Luckily, a summer veterinary conference in Chicago is the perfect time to test this budding romance (did I mention this was in 2013? So these youths are all of.... 23 years old?). It's fine, visit with an old buddy and then back to school in Florida. FRIENDS DONT LET FRIENDS START LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS. *Ahem, Caitlin* Enter grad school year 2 (again, only 1/4 of the way through for us not real doctors). KT is living in Gainesville, FL and trying every single way to wriggle out of this long distance situation with new official boyfriend Matt (Champagne Urbana, IL). Somehow, every time a reasonable opportunity for escape presents itself, Matt makes a greater argument for the greater good of this power couple-ship and the gloriously bright future that is not just guaranteed, but inevitably fated. *Sigh* Hard to argue with, especially since he was right. So now we're to grad school, year two, second semester. Matt moves to Florida for an architecture gig. Still long distance, but much, much closer. *Chefs kiss* Shortly after, he announces his acceptance to University of Florida, School of Architecture- beginning his long, arduous two year Master's degree program (eventually making both KT and Matt Class of 2016 Gator Alumni). A whole host of Florida familia bonded with them over those two years of what became the foundations of their now soon to be marriage. From the 'Boom Room' to the 'ThunderDome', all the karaoke at Dirty Bar and floats down Ginny Springs, Matt and KT, quite annoyingly and utterly adorably, became best friends for life. After graduation, KT (not Marianne) began the long slog of internships and residency. Matt began work as a bonafied MASTER of his architectural craft. Eventually, and having once again survived several years of distance (again, largely attributed to Matt's ability to send a well placed pun text message), the Fort Collins Era finally allowed for a real feeling of permanence for these two. Pair that with four years of an incredible Colorado inner circle and it was a perfect recipe for a perfect* proposal on July 11, 2022. Newly engaged, Matt and KT moved to Three Forks, Montana- where they have been growing roots and planning a party to celebrate this epic journey and kick off their official marital bliss. *See 'The Proposal Story’

We weren't sure if you could guess, but getting to "yes" took some time... After 8 years together on a visit to Chicago (where they had their first trip together), at the top of the Hancock Tower (where they had their first real date together), Matt asked Kate to marry him. Well, asked might have been too strong a word. Matt blurted it out, with no ring, no plan, no actual proposal. So she said "wait, are you for real?" and the two started working together on an engagement ring. A year (and two fired jewelers) later. Kate was wrapping up her residency, getting ready to leave CSU, FoCo, and our friends behind as we made our way to MT - one month left and Matt STILL hadn't popped the question 'for real'. It was now KT's birthday as well as the celebration of her last day at her residency - July 10, 2022. We were leaving on the 12th for a well-deserved End-Of-Residency vacay and upon return, it'd be time to pack up and leave. We had our friends around us, even Caitlin who had flown in to celebrate with us, not to mention her Mom and Dad. The perfect situation. No proposal. Don't worry. There was a plan this time. Not that KT knew that. Understandably annoyed that we had (apparently) missed the chance to celebrate our engagement with her family and our friends, KT drove an hour (each way) to drop Caitlin off at the airport while Matt worked his last day before the two of them drove down to Denver to join KT's cousins for a chef's table dinner before flying early in the morning to Jamaica. Friend back in Florida, parents already heading out with her aunt and uncle to Yellowstone. The last chance for our day to happen in CO passed. But they got dressed for a fancy chef's table dinner, packed for Jamaica, and then... took Kit Kat into the hospital because she was acting sick. No worries - being a little late to a chef's table wasn't a big deal - Kate just didn't know why Matt was so stressed about leaving on time. But with Kit Kat's clean bill of health and the bags in the car, the two of them headed to Denver, KT's phone giving directions the whole way. Which we only mention because the restaurant they were heading to... wasn't where they were going. If you hadn't guessed. And with KT's phone giving directions out loud the whole way, she might notice if Matt started driving somewhere odd. Then something happened that had never happened before, or since. KT turned her phone off, unprompted, and trusted Matt to know what he was doing. So she was understandably confused when, instead of a fancy restaurant, they pulled into the parking lot of Sloan Lake Park. But she caught on quickly. The exact wording of Matt's pre-question speech is lost (and the two of them have very different memories of it), but they walked out to a spot on a peninsula with the mountains behind them, and Matt got down on his knee and asked her to marry him. And Kate, overwhelmed by the days events and with her hands in her dress pockets, said "Sure, I guess." With that, our FoCo friends literally jumped out of bushes, out from behind trees. A dark haired woman we didn't know turned out to be one of our best friends, Lauren, in a wig. And of course, Caitlin hadn't flown to FL after all, but was there to celebrate with us. Then we headed to a dinner, where KT's family (clearly not camping) joined us, with one final surprise as KT's best friend Ryan had flown in from Ohio to celebrate with us too. And that was that - we had an amazing night with our friends and family, flew off to Jamaica the next morning (a bit hungover...) and the rest is history. Unless you're wondering about the ring - because the one on her finger that day wasn't the one the two of them designed together (remember those 2 fired jewelers?). A year and a half later, Matt picked KT up at the airport, just like he had done in IL 11 years earlier, brought her a white pizza and a vase of Gerbera Daisies, and their ring. And this time, she said (emphatically) yes.

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