Chester and Deanna met while serving on Truman State University’s Student Government. They started dating in October 2017, and fell in love planning Christmas parties, going to late-night Mass together, exploring the fine dining of Kirksville, Missouri, and watching lots and lots of movies. They made it through one summer and 1.5+ years of long distance, and in March 2020, Chester popped the question at a gorgeous park in Virginia, and Deanna said “OF COURSE!” Now they can't wait to get married in St. Louis on August 14, 2021!

There was (of course) more to it than that, so if you’d like a longer version with some pictures, here you go! Enjoy :)

Chester and Deanna met on Truman’s Student Government in Fall 2016, but Deanna was oblivious to Chester’s cute attempts to ask her out up until this point. Chester remained persistent, thankfully, and Deanna finally caught on. They went to a lovely casual dinner in an on-campus dining hall before a Student Government meeting, and about half of Student Government saw them there and began asking questions. They then went on a more proper date a few days later at their favorite restaurant in Kirksville, Maxwell’s, and pretty soon they were eating dinner together almost every day and having a great time doing so.

Chester took on the ultimate task of planning a Christmas party for Student Government in December 2017, and Deanna loved getting to help. It went down in the history books as Chester’s Perfect Christmas, and we hope people tell their children about this party of the century for years to come. It was a great time.

Perhaps more importantly, Chester came to visit St. Louis over Christmas break, meeting Deanna’s big fat German family for the first time. Deanna’s siblings loved that he wasn’t as competitive as them in board games, and Chester loved suggesting plenty of movies to watch.

After a few months of deliberation, Deanna decided in Spring 2018 to run with their mutual friend Keaton as Student Body President and Vice President in spring elections. Chester graciously agreed to take on the role of Campaign Manager, being best friends with the Presidential candidate and the boyfriend of the potential Veep. The election season turned out to be one of the most contentious in recent Truman history, with three competitive Presidential tickets. Chester remained cool, recruited a stellar campaign team to help out, gave Deanna plenty of encouragement and ice cream, and Keaton and Deanna won by an impressive margin, thanks to their own personal Ben Wyatt! Deanna knew then that if Chester could help her through what had felt like the most stressful month of her college career, they were going to make a pretty darn good team for whatever life threw at them in the future.

Before they started dating, both Deanna and Chester had applied to summer study abroad programs in China and Peru, respectively. They were both excited about travelling, and determined to make long distance work. Deanna was in China for 8 weeks, and Chester travelled to Peru for three and then London for another week. They learned to get used to late night/early morning calls with unreliable cell signal, sent each other plenty of pictures, and made memories to last a lifetime. By the end of the summer, though, they were ready to see each other and not be on opposite sides of the world for months at a time again.

Chester and Deanna were reunited at Truman in August, and spent Chester’s final semester at Truman exploring the hidden gems of Kirksville. Deanna took Chester to her all-time favorite Northeast Missouri tradition, Corn Fest, and they had an a-maize-ing time, as expected :)

Speaking of corn, Deanna also visited Chester’s family in Iowa for the first time, and had a great time bonding with the Pelsangs and starting to work through their impressive movie collection!

After planning his second annual Chester’s Perfect Christmas party with more help from Deanna, Chester graduated from Truman State University in December 2018 with all the awards and honors you could imagine. Deanna cheered loudly with the Pelsangs in the bleachers!

After graduating, Chester moved out to Fairfax, Virginia to begin in M.A. in History program at George Mason University. They were sad and nervous to be doing long distance again, but knew that if they could make it work last summer between 4 countries and 3 time zones, they could handle this. And they did! Chester flew into St. Louis for Valentine’s Day, and Deanna flew out to visit Fairfax and DC during her spring break. They got used to daily FaceTime calls, and grew more thankful for each day they got to spend together.

In the meantime, Deanna ran for Student Body President without her favorite campaign manager there physically (although his constant support never faded!). She and her best friend/Vice President Katie ended up running unopposed, probably because the competition was too scared from Deanna’s impressive political performance the year before, thanks to Chester.

The long distance thankfully didn’t have to last too long; Deanna moved out to D.C. for a summer internship with the U.S. State Department, and these two got to explore D.C. together on the weekends--they even went on a segway tour (worth it)!

Deanna returned to Truman for the fall of her senior year, and the FaceTimes and cross-country trips resumed. Chester visited St. Louis and Kirksville for his birthday and fall break, and they started to talk about post-Deanna’s graduation plans. Maybe long distance wouldn’t last too much longer??...

Families in two cities means Chester and Deanna get to celebrate the holidays twice! Deanna visited the Pelsangs in D.C. for Thanksgiving, and Chester survived his first Schmidt Christmas. While in St. Louis they got to check out the newly-opened St. Louis Aquarium, and then also got to do some sightseeing of Christmas lights in Davenport when they visited the Pelsangs for New Years! Plenty of celebrations to kick off 2020!

Deanna and Chester were particularly excited for 2020, knowing they would, God-willing, be engaged by the time Deanna graduated from Truman in May. Chester was working hard to plan the perfect surprise, and Deanna waited in excitement, guessing when the day would come and how it would happen.

In keeping with their frequent flying tradition, Deanna travelled to D.C. to see Chester for her spring break, when rumblings of COVID-19 were starting to erupt. She visited George Washington University’s campus the last day before they shut down due to the pandemic, and decided she would attend their M.A. in Asian Studies program in the fall. When Truman announced that the fall semester would be online, Deanna got to stay with Chester for some bonus time together, making the news a bit easier to swallow.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Deanna, Chester was frantically working behind the scenes to salvage his perfectly laid engagement plans. He had worked carefully with Deanna’s parents, his parents, mutual friends Nicole and Katie, and Truman’s building managers to plan a beautiful surprise ceremony on Truman’s campus for the weekend of Deanna’s last Student Government meeting. He had reserved the Kirk Memorial building, printed off pictures to hang inside, planned an after-party, and checked all the boxes he knew would be important to Deanna. Back up plan after back up plan seemed to fall through as plane travel was cancelled, Truman’s campus was closed, and families couldn’t travel, but Chester had the ring and was READY.

The morning of March 21, Chester decided it was the day. They weren’t sure when they would be able to return to Truman, and he had a pretty darn good back-up plan in his back pocket. Deanna had been asking to go on a hike when the weather cleared up, and the rain let up for just long enough to do so. Chester asked if she wanted to go explore Great Falls Park, a nearby national park with gorgeous waterfalls and scenic overlooks. They drove to the park, and about a mile away noticed that traffic was flooding out of the park, despite Virginia pushing social distancing in public places. Deanna said, “That’s okay, we can just go another day!” Chester stared straight ahead over the wheel and calmly but urgently said, “Could you please find another park nearby? I just really want to go to a park today.” They found a connecting park with gorgeous views of the Potomac about two miles away, and hiked for an hour. Chester kept asking to go down private trails, and Deanna kept dragging him towards the bigger paths with pretty views, totally oblivious yet again. Chester finally got her to walk down a private trail (persistence paid off yet again), took out the ring, and got down on one knee. Many hugs, kisses, and tears later, they got to FaceTime all their friends and family with the happy news amid the pandemic gloom, and are still just as excited to be getting married on August 14, 2021!