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!

Registry

Your love, support, and attendance to our wedding is a gift in itself, but if you'd like to honor us with a gift, we're registered with Amazon, Crate & Barrel, and Williams Sonoma. Plus a cash fund for our first home! Thank you in advance <3