When Chris was waiting for his interview time for a freshmen organization, FEAST, out of the room came the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Legend has it, he can still remember exactly what she was wearing. As the elevator doors closed, he was filled with despair, as he knew the chances of finding her again amidst the 60K other students were slim to none.

In her first FEAST meeting, Jessi was anxious with competitive energy. You see, she had to decide which boy would be her costume partner for the Halloween party. However, 15 other girls were also picking at the same time, and Jessi of course wanted her first pick. Finally, someone found a picture from the “guys only” pool party and started passing it around. After looking at the picture for 10 seconds, Jessi immediately knew she wanted and loudly proclaimed “I want Chris Hattaway.”

2 hours into their 30 min coffee meeting, Chris and Jessi had completely forgotten about planning their Halloween costumes and were talking about anything and everything. Their immediate connection slowly turned into mischievous plotting to win the costume contest. They stayed up until 5am handmaking their costumes (okay, Jessi’s roommate, Allie did most of the work). You’ll NEVER guess who won the costume contest! They celebrated by throwing their trophy (a large pumpkin) off the top level of a parking garage, and a month later Chris asked Jessi to be his girlfriend.

Their time together at Texas A&M was filled with tons of love, laughter, and AGGIE SPIRIT! While in college they experienced football games, more FEAST events, and the merging of two friend groups which resulted in 2 other proposals! Jessi participated in the school’s Dance Art’s Society, where she danced in many recitals and even choreographed her own piece, and Fish Camp, where she had the important job of instilling the Aggie Spirit into incoming freshmen (and dyeing her hair blue). Chris played for A&M’s club baseball team and received 1st team All-Conference recognition and a Gulf Coast South conference title. Additionally, he won many intramural championships from softball to kickball, and becoming a 3-time undefeated dodgeball champion; receiving five very stylish t-shirts across his career.

Upon graduating college, they moved to Minneapolis Minnesota. Exploring a new city and pushing through the hurdles of living far away from family and friends, caused them to grow even closer. They learned how to have fun on their own, both pushing each other to try new things. They realized the importance of leaning on each other when things got hard. They tried tons of new restaurants, became speakeasy aficionados, trained for and ran a half marathon (painfully), did cold plunges in frozen lakes, and even learned how to drive in the snow (not really).

Chris and Jessi’s proposal story is full of fake surprises and conniving little sisters. Jessi and Chris were flying to Dallas to “surprise” their friend, Peyton, at her bridal shower. Jessi was very excited because, as terrible as she is at keeping secrets, she finally managed to keep this one thing a surprise. Little did she know, Peyton had been helping Chris plan the engagement the whole time (cue the Oscar award). Jessi did, however, start to get suspicious when everyone kept asking her how she was going to do her nails for their upcoming “girls’ dinner,” at the Dallas Arboretum (which doesn’t even have a restaurant). She texted her sister, Majorie, to confess her suspicions, but Marjorie swiftly replied with “Don’t get to anticipated for this weekend, I may know something you don’t, and I don’t want you to get your hopes up and ruin your weekend”. She then proceeded to tell Jessi to go with RED nails NOT white. How could Jessi argue with that?

While the girls were getting all primped, Chris was nervously pacing around the picture-perfect proposal spot he and his friends had secured. As if Chris didn’t have enough to be worried about, right after he received the “eagle has landed” text, a massive family of 50 people started seizing the area. One of Chris’s friends bravely stepped up to fend off the intruders (a very nice family who immediately moved out of the way and sat in the grass to watch the spectacle unfold). With all of Chris and Jessi’s family hidden behind some bushes, Chris anxiously walked to the middle to of garden to await his future bride.

After a few fake pumpkin pictures, Peyton hurried the girls along for their “dinner reservation”. Blinded by the sun when they turned a corner, Jessi didn’t even realize that her friends had retreated a few steps behind her, until she opened her eyes and saw Chris standing in the middle of the garden. She immediately knew what was about to happen as she walked to him, and he bent down on one knee. It was the easiest “YES” of her life!

And the rest was history! And “the rest” was filled with celebrating their love with all their family and friends, creating dozens of Pinterest boards, Jessi buying tons of white dresses, and Chris picking the wrong option almost every time he was asked for input (just kidding! Chris secretly enjoyed wedding planning)!