WE'RE TYING THE KNOT!

Andrew's Version of the Story: From when I first met her in the second grade I had a crush on her! She had dimples and a radiant smile and I remember asking my mom what the dents on the cheeks were called. Although I couldn't remember her name I remembered her as the dimple girl. This crush went on throughout the years and although we never spoke much until high school my feelings remained the same. Coming out of the COVID lockdown we began to talk more and more through Church events and slowly became friends. This progressed even more on the Church's senior retreat where we got to talk even more and I decided that I wanted to pursue her as more than just a friend and try to do what little Andrew never could. After a few weeks of talking after the retreat I ASKED HER to homecoming (given she set me up very well). We went on that first date and had a second date set up before we even got ready to leave the dance. We then went and hung out in a park in Clifton, where I would propose a couple years later, and we decided there together that we would try out this whole dating thing since we both had never dated. In that same spot 2 years and 51 days later she said yes to my proposal to marriage. Riley's Version of the Story: I met Aaron Plott in the second grade, and with him came his twin brother Andrew who never spoke a word to me. While I never got to know the twins too well, we spent summers in VBS groups together, Wednesday night youth groups together, summer camps together, and so much more... yet we never really got to know one another. The closest thing I ever had to a friendship with Andrew were the handful of times we said hi up until our junior year of high school, and the fleeting crush I had on "that one really cute twin" in the fourth grade. Other than that, in my eyes, our story didn't start until my online, eight week, self-directed calculus class in my senior year of high school. The summer leading up to our senior year, Andrew and I had gotten to know each other somewhat well by playing basketball with one another at youth group, though I never thought much of it. It wasn't until I had this class that I was utterly failing that I ever intentionally reached out to Andrew consistently. He would sit patiently on the phone with me as I botched the same math problem twenty times before figuring it out. Funny enough, I never finished that calculus class, but I did end up with a crush. Right after we began talking over the phone for our online calculus tutoring, we went on a church senior beach retreat. During this retreat, Andrew and I got to know each other as really good, intentional friends for the first time since the second grade. A week after this beach retreat, we had still not stopped texting. It was then that I knew my pact to not date until I had finished high school was in trouble. As we continued to grow our friendship over text, phone calls, and youth group events, the topic of homecoming kept coming up. Andrew claimed he wasn't going to go, but I had already decided in my mind that there was no way I was letting that happen. I asked myself to homecoming - don't let Andrew tell you any other tall tale. On October 2, 2021, I went on my first date with Andrew Michael Plott. We went to the West Springfield homecoming, and as a true test of character, I made him wear hot pink (but at least I cut him some slack by wearing flats), and we finished the night by sitting in Clifton Park talking for two hours under the stars. Since that day, Andrew asked me to be his girlfriend on October 7th, we graduated high school, we both went to Liberty University, we pushed through a summer of long distance, and we got engaged in that same park we had our first date in on November 22, 2023. While we've had our ups and downs, there is no other man I'd rather make short jokes with, laugh with, and glorify God for the rest of my life. We cannot wait to celebrate the next chapter of our story on August 4, 2024!