Just thinking back on how this all started, makes us smile so big, and brings back all the butterflies. Okay, let's dive in! On August 8th, 2015, my roommate, Ana, and I (Madison) hosted a bonfire at our place. Our good friend, Cory, asked to bring a couple friends with him. Without hesitation, we said yes because the more the merrier, right? This is when Garrett and I met for the first time ever. Although we were both incredibly interested in one another, we both played shy and spent most of the night simply enjoying the evening with our friends. I expressed interest to our mutual friend, and he passed the message along to Garrett. A couple weeks later, Cory invited us out for a fun night in Broad Ripple. We had fun around the town that evening, took a photo together, said our goodbyes and that was that. I needed a way to get his number. Modern day way to get it? I slid right into Garrett's DMs on Instagram. Smooth, I know. He was quick to respond and exchange numbers, so I’d say my efforts were worth it!

A couple weeks passed, and Garrett invited us to a party at Ball State, where he attended college. Garrett and I got to know each other a lot more than we had planned. We stayed up late getting to know one another better and enjoyed the night! We shared our first kiss, and everything finally started to make sense. We are both strong believers that everything in this world happens for a reason. Even if we cannot find the reason, we trust that it was meant to be. After that night, Garrett and I became inseparable. Hanging out every weekend turned into every night. It's funny to look back and realize that neither of us knew this was the beginning of something so great, but here we are saying YES to forever.

On January 22nd, 2016, Garrett called me and let every feeling he ever had out. Most would prefer this conversation in person, but we had an hour drive between us and Garrett couldn’t hold it in much longer. I remember him saying, “I don’t want to be with anyone else and I couldn’t imagine my life without you.” It was safe to say he stole my heart. Later that evening, I get off work and get cozy at home and hear a knock at the front door. Garrett stands there smiling so big and asked me if I have thought about what he said and if I will be his girlfriend. I said yes, of course and we danced the night away in our string lit basement. LOL. Six months later Garrett is moving in and we are committing to more than we had ever imagined. We knew we were ready for this step and extremely excited for what was to come! Everything was coming together. By Christmas we made a promise to one another, we were both committed to forever from the go. But, this made everything feel a bit more promising.

A few weeks before our trip to Hawaii, Garrett made a last minute trip to Kokomo. This is when he built up the courage to ask my dad for his blessing. Without a doubt, my dad said ‘yes’ and Garrett started to plan our engagement. The morning of January 15th, 2018 seemed pretty ordinary. We had breakfast on the resort with his dad before our family photos. Now that I think back, Garrett was pretty awkward and quiet. But, when Craig’s around there is never a dull moment, so I didn’t think anything of it. We headed out to family photos and Craig suggested we take one last photo, as a couple, on the rocks (Craig was in on the plan). This is where Garrett popped the question. For all those that know Garrett, I did think he was joking because he had done so in the past. It took me awhile to respond and understand that this was really happening. WE SAID YES TO FOREVER