Let it be known that I have had a crush on Ricky since high school. He played football, he was popular...you get the picture. We swam together as kids and were lifeguards together in high school, so he was always just, well, relevant. :-)

Fast forward to my sophomore year of college, and as God would have it - he was my New Year's Eve kiss. I remember RUNNING into my house and announcing to my family that I, Alex Hunter, had kissed THE Ricky Tkac. It turned out he was still too good for me, so it didn't go anywhere.

THEN I decided to move to France after graduating college. I remember bumping into him on a run a few weeks before my flight and thinking "welp, I'm never seeing him again." Wrong. I get to France, and few weeks later Ricky messaged me saying that him and Justin Um (best man) would be in Paris for a week, that I should meet up with them if I was around. I was just a two hour train ride away, and WAS TOO NERVOUS TO GO. It was my one shot, but I didn't have the guts. But as fate would have it - again - I saw him at the grocery store when I was home for Christmas.

So I return from France the summer of 2018, and I had one week at home in Virginia before starting work down in North Carolina. My childhood next door neighbor invited me to dinner with some of his friends. After learning that Ricky would be there, my afternoon consisted of trying on what felt like a million outfits in front of my sisters. I was SO NERVOUS. For the first time in my life, I lost my words whenever he looked at me. Cheesy, I know. Dont make fun of me!! The next day, Ricky asked me to get lunch, and there you go!

The next few months were a whirlwind of visits from Ricky, and then countless letters from Quantico, VA while he began his journey with the Marines. The fact that Ricky was undergoing perhaps the largest transition of his life and still found time to write me, meant the absolute world. He courted me as a true gentlemen, and I wouldnt trade that time of our relationship for anything.

Ricky and I's relationship is my constant reminder that The Lord has a plan for all of us, and that everything always turns out the way it's supposed to. Ricky was always there. He never stopped popping into my life, and I now have the honor of preparing to be his wife. I love him with every ounce in me, and am truly the luckiest girl in the world.

Registry