THE BEGINNING
Both Wade and Allison started their freshman year at the University of Arkansas in August 2012. Allison had to move into the dorms early for sorority recruitment the week before school started. Wade then moved into Maple Hill East a few days before school began. They lived across the hall from one another on the fourth floor.
One day Wade and his roommate happened to be on the same elevator as Allison and her roommate. After getting off the elevator they went different directions and Wade told his roommate "I don't know who that girl is but I’m going to date her."
One day Allison and her roommates were hanging out in their room when Wade came to the door asking for a Tide To Go pen; it’s no surprise Allison had one to let him borrow! One of the best things about our dorm was that the whole 4th floor was super friendly. Everyone kept their doors propped open and everyone became friends. There was even a group of who went to family dinners on a weekly basis.
On November 15, 2012 Wade asked Allison to be his girlfriend! This marked the start of an amazing journey together.

THE PROPOSAL
Fast forward to March 17, 2018 AKA the best day ever! Allison went to Florida on vacation with Wade and his family. Everyone spent the day on the beach and had plans to go out for dinner that night. It’s rare for them to go out for dinner when they’re at the beach, but in order to get everyone dressed nicely they told Allison that their family friend made dinner reservations for them at Café 30A. Before heading out to dinner everyone wanted to quickly look for a bald eagle on the beach; their family friend spotted it just the week prior so it would have been very cool to spot it, too!
After heading up to the house after a great first day on the beach everyone showered and got ready for dinner. Wade is a very prompt person, so it was no surprise when he asked Allison to head down to look for the bald eagle as others were finishing getting ready. So, the two headed down to the beach in hopes of a patriotic bald eagle spotting!
After crossing over the boardwalk the two spotted a neighbor and her adorable lab on the beach taking sunset pictures. Wade and Allison said hi and kept walking. After a few steps Wade stopped and turned Allison around. He talked about how amazing the past ~5.5 years had been and how he wanted to spend forever together. Wade then got down on one knee and asked Allison to marry him. Shocked by the whole series of events, Allison asked if this was really happening and quickly answered YES!
The two celebrated what had just happened! Wade then told Allison she needed to FaceTime her parents and said Abby would bring a phone down. A few seconds later Abby ran down to the beach with champagne in hand and greeted them with a huge hug! After hugging Ab they all looked back toward the boardwalk looking for Wade’s parents and Michael. To Allison’s surprise, she looked up and saw her brother, Travis, running down the beach! This was a huge surprise as Travis had spring break the week prior and had tricked Allison that he was already back in Texas. But that wasn’t the only surprise, Allison’s parents, sister and brother-in-law all ran down to the beach with Wade’s parents, brother and dear friends!
The photographer taking pictures of the neighbor and her dog was just a set-up and she actually captured the whole thing and documented the perfect surprise sunset beach proposal… it really was such a dreamy night! Everyone headed back to the house where the families threw a celebratory party; there were so many fun decorations, pictures, the cutest cookies, the most delicious food and the night was full of smiles and laughter.
Wade knows Allison absolutely loves surprises, so he sure pulled this one off and blew her out of the water! From the surprise of the engagement to the surprise of all their favorite people being together in their favorite place, March 17, 2018 will forever be a special day!!

#WadedForAWalstad