Bretton and Colleen met outside their dorm building at Vanderbilt University on Sept. 16, 2017. He was waiting for a friend to show up so they could grab lunch together. She was planning to jog to the gym and then swing by the tailgates over on Greek Row.

When Colleen came out of the dorm and started stretching on a bench, Bretton asked if she was going to the gym or the frats, but Colleen couldn't hear him because she had her earbuds in. He asked again, she still didn't hear him, and he decided to try one more time, at which point her song ended, so she took out her earbuds and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, were you talking to me?" They proceeded to talk, during which time they found out they were both Tennesseans -- and that Colleen had visited Bretton's alma mater, Ensworth School, to watch them play football against her alma mater, Baylor School, the week before -- and exchanged numbers before his friend showed up.

Later on, Colleen texted Bretton and asked if he wanted to join her at a tailgate party, which he did, and they had so much fun that when they walked back to their dorm building together, he asked her out to dinner. Needless to say, it was an amazing first date!

Fast forward nearly six years later, through almost three years of long-distance while Colleen was working in Virginia, not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Aug. 31, 2023, Bretton brought Colleen back to the exact same spot where they met under the guise of meeting two friends -- one of whom worked in the building across the street from the couple's old dorm -- for dinner, and then he asked her to marry him.

Colleen had known the proposal was coming for weeks, not only because Bretton had promised on their first anniversary that he would propose within five years, but also because he had asked Colleen's dad for his blessing earlier in the summer. Bretton had even told Colleen to pack a bag with her ideal proposal photo shoot outfit just in case she wasn't already wearing it when he popped the question.

Bretton was extremely sneaky about the whole thing, roping their friends into setting up the double date and then having them pretend to be late, asking Colleen to swing by the leasing office to pick up an extra key so he could hide her proposal outfit into his car before they left for dinner, and having the photographer dress up like a college student so Colleen wouldn't notice her.

While they were waiting for their friends to show up, Bretton brought Colleen over to the same bench she was stretching on when they first met; she pointed that out; and before she knew it, Bretton started a romantic speech, which ended with "These have been the happiest years of my life, and I want to have many more with you." He got down on one knee, and the rest is captured on film.

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