Let me set the scene.. mud, cows, llamas, brown paint, new shoes and unpreparedness. As most love stories begin, ours started at a small non-profit animal farm in Snyder County, Pennsylvania. Exactly where every college freshman expects to find their future wife.

In the days following move in, everybody went through an event called “SU Serve” where us freshman would spend the day helping a local business for several hours. I wish this was as noble as it sounds, but to tell you the truth I was a bit upset when I found out my group was going to be building and painting fences at a local farm. I believe it was as I squished through the mud in my brand new Nike shoes that I first saw Bianca. She likes to say I was “staring” at her the entire time which I tend to deny but what I will admit is that I strategically switched to painter rather than a builder since that was the group she was in. Short term, that decision meant I now ruined my new shoes and my new sweatpants (really was not prepared) but long term it turned out pretty great.

As the semester started, I would try to find any excuse to spend more and more time with her. Living in the same hall, I would pop into her room multiple times a day to ask for random appliances, eat her snacks or just sit and talk with her for a bit. I even made up some reason on why I had to come back to school early during fall break. The real reason was I knew she’d be there for soccer and would have no choice but to hang out with me. As I got to know her more, two things became really clear: the first is how incredibly easy to talk to she was and how natural it felt to be around her. The second is that when she would put her retainer in and climb into bed, it was time for me to leave.

As the fall sports season ended and winter break rolled around, Bianca told me she needed to ask me something. I remember being terrified having no idea what was coming. To my surprise, she asked if I wanted to be her date to her soccer formal. I believe my reply was something like “oh that’s it? Of course I’ll go”. This turned out to be the best decision of my life because as we took pictures in the hallway (see photos section), I asked her to be my girlfriend (this was the second time) and as they say.. “The rest is history”

Wedding Party