It was Labor Day weekend of 2015. A few weeks earlier, Matt had stumbled onto Mizzou's campus and had found himself attending The Rock Campus Church shortly after arriving. Bekah had been on campus for a year already and was also attending The Rock, where her older sister, Sarah, was a Community Group Leader. After church on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, a group of really cool not-freshmen invited the lame freshman, Matt, if he wanted to hang out the next day at a local hiking spot, The Pinnacles. Sarah invited Bekah to come along, and it was there that we really hung out for the first time! And, let me tell ya, it was definitely love at first sight........................ lol jk. We were just really good friends for about the first year-and-a-half of us knowing each other. We went to Colorado the following summer with our church's Leadership Training program, we became sand volleyball intramural champions and we eventually started leading in the same Community Group through The Rock. In January of 2017, Bekah and I went on our first date and by March 5, 2017, we were "officially" in a relationship! And now, exactly four years after we first really hung out, we will get married on Labor Day weekend of 2019! And we cannot wait to have you be apart of our day!

We had been dating long distance for a little over four months at this time. Bekah had moved to Dallas about a month before and Matt was just starting his senior year at Mizzou. Bekah had an idea that Matt was going to propose soon, but had a feeling that it would probably come when she was in Columbia a few weeks later for Mizzou's Homecoming. Matt had an idea that Bekah was probably thinking that was the case and he still wanted to surprise her! Due to Bekah's impressive intuitiveness, Matt knew that this engagement had to be intricately planned in order for it to work as a surprise. So, Matt devised a plan with the help of Bekah's sister Sarah (now a Maid of Honor), her best friend, Emma (now a bridesmaid), and her family to surprise her in the best way possible! October 6th was the date they had in mind. Matt, Sarah and Emma decided that it would be ideal to mask the weekend as just a "girls' weekend" where Sarah would fly in from Seattle, surprise Bekah with Taylor Swift tickets, and then Emma would fly in from Florida to surprise Bekah. Matt was very excited to have all of Bekah's favorite people there that weekend, but the surprise visit from Emma also served as a perfect diversion in case anyone was acting strange coming up to that weekend. Matt flew into Dallas on Saturday morning and staked out where he would get down on one knee with his parents! They decided on Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas. Sarah, being a phenomenal photographer, told Bekah that they should go on a photo shoot around her new city! Eventually, Sarah and Emma led Bekah to Klyde Warren Park, where Matt was hiding out. He came out from around the corner, tapped her shoulder, got on one knee, and asked her if she would spend the rest of her life with him! And, guess what? She said yes! And now we're getting married!!! WOOHOO!