Our story began at McGraw-Long Hall at James Madison University. It was Freshman year; Jacob lived on floor 3A, while I was just half a floor above on 3B. During orientation week, my roommate Kristi and I boldly took a walk down 3A to introduce ourselves and make some friends. We stopped by a room where a handful of guys were hyper-focused on a game of Super Smash Bros. We introduced ourselves — Kristi said it’d be easy to remember us because we were Kristi and Ali, like the actress Kirstie Alley. There were some chuckles, one of which was from a cute brunette: Jacob! It turned out that the dorm room belonged to no other than Jacob and Cameron (the best man of our wedding)!
Fast forward a few days, and I brought a head massager (like one of these guys) with me to 3A. As someone who gets headaches frequently, my mom gifted me one that I could use while at JMU. As I was walking down 3A, I saw a bunch of guys hanging out in the hallway, one of whom was Jacob. Everyone thought it was both random and funny (thankfully) that I had a head massager with me. Some of the guys weren’t even aware they were a thing! So we looked on Amazon and I showed them. Apparently, you can also buy them in bulk, and we all thought that was hilarious — particularly Jacob and I. We had a good laugh, and then somehow got to talking about the series How I Met Your Mother. I had watched it before going to school and had endless quotes and references jumbling around in my head. As a TV/movie quote enthusiast, I was more than ready to rattle some off with another fellow fan of the show. However the rest of our conversation went, we hit it off, and I thought he was funny and could keep up with my chaotic energy which was very important!!! That day I inspired an entire group of college boys to order head massagers AND I developed a crush on my now fiance. A successful day, no?
A couple of weeks of casually chatting and hanging out in group settings went by and my crush only got stronger. One October night I got a knock on my dorm room door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I swung it open, and there stood Jacob dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt. He confidently asked me if I wanted to go out on a date, and the rest is history!
Our first date was at the Student Success Center, which was an on-campus dining location. So instead of paying for the meal, he used points from his JAC card to buy my meal. What a gentleman! That one date led to more lunch dates, which led to competitive games of pool, movie nights, music swapping, bowling, hikes, and trips to the puppy farm (yes, that was a thing near JMU).
While the distance over the summers of ’14-’18 proved challenging, we made it through with lots of FaceTime calls, trips to amusement parks, and drives between NY and VA. Our families were also extremely supportive, so shout out to all of you, too! Fast forward to the fall of 2021, and we moved into our first apartment together in Fairfax, VA. That apartment experience only got better with the addition of our rescue pup, Sunny. His chaotic energy and loudly affectionate nature added some spice to our living experience for sure. As wild as that super mutt can be, he’s only brought us closer together.
After 8 years together (I know it’s a lot, but remember we met freshman year of college!) - Jacob popped the question while hiking at one of our favorite spots: Great Falls State Park. He conspired with my BFF Lindsay, having me believe she was just coming for a normal visit. Pish posh. I was bamboozled in the absolute best way. A surprise engagement AND surprise engagement party? I felt [and still feel] honored.
As we plan our wedding from our home in Richmond, VA (we moved out of Fairfax in Feb. of 2023), I’m constantly reminded of how wonderful Jacob is. He’s one of the funniest people I know, and not just because I’ve rubbed off on him. ;) If you have the privilege of being Jacob’s friend, you should consider yourself very lucky. He’s deeply caring, loyal, and selfless. Not to mention he’s a lot of fun! Whether we’re hiking, doing a puzzle, binge-watching a new series, trash-talking each other at bowling or mini golf… you name it, it’s always a blast. And the best part is we get to keep doing all of those things as a married couple!
I’m overwhelmed with all of the love and support we’ve received over this nearly nine-year period Jacob and I have been together. I look forward to celebrating and tearing up the dance floor with you all! And if you read all of this… wow. That’s really cool of you.
As of the time of writing this, the two of us have been together for almost 9 years, so you bet your Betty Boop that we got a couple of stories for you.
I grew up and went to school in Ashburn, Virginia, about 30 miles northwest of the Washington Monument for those of you not familiar with Virginia’s geography. I was born in Texas, but from the ages of 2 – 18, I lived and grew up in northern Virginia. My last year of high school, like most was touring different colleges, and had narrowed down my choice between Virginia Tech and James Madison University. Music and marching band had always been a part of my high school experience, so ultimately, I decided on JMU because of its marching program and College of Business. It didn’t hurt that my sister, Chelsea, was already at the school so it made it feel like home!
Next came the second scariest part of going to college, finding a roommate. I posted on the JMU Class of 2018 Facebook page looking for one. Within what felt like 2 minutes, I had a message come in from my new best friend, Cameron Wilhelm, today’s best man for great reason. While it felt like I was moving through light speed through the next couple of months as I finished up high school, enjoyed my last summer residing in the only town I can truly remember living in, and prepared for college, I’m happy it did so I can start on the next most exciting part of my life.
The first week at school in August, Cameron and I wanted to meet all our new neighbors at McGraw-Long Hall, so we left the door open to invite people inside to play some games with us. At the same time, Ali and her roommate Kristi made their way down to meet people in the hall just next to theirs. I still remember them introducing themselves and telling us they could remember because their names are close enough to the actress, Kirstie Alley.
For the next month or so, Ali and I focused on finding our footing at this huge new school, making new friends, joining new organizations, and working through our classes. We would see each other here and there in the halls for some music jam sessions, game nights, or the occasional hall dinner, but our time together really kicked off one night in the dorm hallway, I was talking to my friend Alex, and Ali, ever the extrovert, joined in, and we connected about the TV show How I Met Your Mother, which I had just started watching and was recommending to my friend. It was getting late, so we said our goodbyes, but Ali and I went in the same direction, back to my room.
After the awkward, “See you later” to “Oh you’re also going this way” moment I’m sure we’ve all had at some point in our lives, we both walk back to my and Cameron’s room to Kristi and Cameron talking, so we join in and talk until a lot later that night (don’t worry mom, it was a weekend, I think!). That night was the first time we had talked deeper than “How are you,” “How was class,” and “What shows are you watching,” and where I first got to know each other.
The next few days we hung out a few times in groups, all leading up to Cameron pushing me down the hall, knocking on her door, and leaving me there. I stood in front of their door half hoping no one was home, but I’m sure glad she was! We small talked for a bit, and eventually I asked for her phone number so we could work out going to lunch together sometime at the student success center. A few months later, I would say I love you for the first time in that room.
On our first official date at Chick-fil-A on campus, ever so romantic, we have the infamous lemonade story. While waiting for our food, Ali had gotten a lemonade, and while I was waiting for my milkshake to be ready, I leaned over and stole some. Now I had no idea the time, but that is 100% a no-go for Ali. I don’t think she had any of that lemonade the rest of the date! But she was nice and never said anything about it… until she wrote a paper on it for her communications class on “Expectancy Violations Theory”. And it was so good it was entered into a competition!
Ali graduated in 2018, and I stayed back to finish up a little late in 2019, so we were going to be long distance for a bit. This started the longest 3 years of our lives! 0/10, do not recommend it to anyone. We made it through with a lot of Facetime calls, and road trips to see each other in New York and Virginia.
Finally, it happened. In October 2021 we moved in together to an apartment in Fairfax, VA. Living away from home with your partner-best friend is a great experience, 11/10, highly recommend. We had so much fun doing everything together, even the grocery shopping and cleaning! We gamify everything, so hard not to have a good time with each other.
In April we made the best decision to go to a dog adoption event. Not to get one, but to just check out the agency for when we were ready. Well, we were in trouble because we got attached to one so quickly. And with 4 people ahead of us in the application process, we someone got lucky enough to get Sunny a few weeks later, and our lives forever changed. He quickly became our entire personality, but I mean can you blame us? Have you seen him??
Learning to live together was one challenge. We had to combine both of our ways of living without stepping on too many toes. Learning to live together with a dog for the first time was way more intense. But through both processes, we learned more about each other than anything else, and in September we knew we were ready for the next step and got engaged!
I conspired with one of Ali’s best friends Lindsay and got her to fly out one weekend in September. Turns out it was the perfect distraction because she had no idea what I had planned for her, to propose on one of our favorite hikes in the area and a surprise party once we got home. Now for the fun part: planning a wedding with all of you there to support us!