The year was 1996...and then all of a sudden it was 2013! They were best friends growing up since their parents lived next door to each other. They went to preschool together, birthday parties, and many playdates. Unfortunately, once they got to kindergarten Blake went to Escanaba and Abby went to Gladstone. Once they got to senior year of high school, Blake's friend Sean was dating Abby's friend Emily. They found out that Blake and Abby were friends as little kids and just HAD to set them up. Fast forward through an awkward first forced meet up 13 years after they last spoke, Blake went up to Abby at the fair one day and they started talking. Just before he left, he did the single (and only) smooth move he has ever used, took her phone, put his number in, handed it back to her and said, "I don't text first," and walked away. Now the ball was in Abby's court and she had to make the (next) first move. They started talking, hanging out, and then went to both Gladstone and Escanaba homecomings together. Not long after that, they were together. They dated throughout high school, undergrad, PT school (and Blake's underdoctorate schooling), and FINALLY, after 8 years, moved in together and FINALLY lived in the same town when they both got jobs downstate. They moved into a few apartments together, bought a house in Holly, and now have a goofy little loud cat named Mater.

They've conquered Copper Harbor mountain biking together, many hills snowboarding, steep hiking trails in Hawaii, giant crowds at Summerfest, and Houghton blizzards together. On December 16, 2023, Abby came home from work to Blake inviting her to go out to dinner in Detroit with him and some friends to celebrate their friend buying a house. They drove down to Detroit and when they parked, Blake said, "oh, everyone is still a ways away, let's go walk around the ice rink and Christmas tree together." They walked around and then ended up by the Christmas tree at Campus Martius. After taking some pictures and standing around, Abby asked, "ok! Which direction is dinner?" to which Blake replied, "well, before we go to dinner, I have a question to ask you..." and got down on one knee right there in front of the tree. Somehow, none of the bystanders noticed or took any pictures, so they asked a group of girls to take their picture together after. "Sure! Will you take ours next?" So they took their picture together and then Abby started taking theirs. "Hey! Can you also take ours?" asked another group of girls. No one around even noticed the proposal! Finally they asked for their picture taken again and a nice lady noticed Abby's ring, "Wow! What a pretty ring. Did you just get engaged?" "Yes!" "Like right now!?" "YES!" "Oh my goodness, yes of course you need a picture!" After this, Abby was ready to head to dinner with Blake's friends but, surprise! Blake had made the whole thing up to get Abby to downtown Detroit without being suspicious so he could pop the question and the two could head off to a dinner reservation made for just the two of them.

This brings us to today, preparing for a wedding that some would say has been 27 years in the making, going back to 1996...