In 1997, Katie was in the first grade at St. Pius X School. Shortly after the year began, her class was given a group of "buddies" from the eighth grade class. Her buddy's name was Meghann. Katie vaguely remembers doing arts & crafts like activities with her buddy and at some point, Meghann said to her something along the lines of "my brother Johnny Gibboney is in the other first grade class". Little did 7 year old Katie know that she had just heard the name of her future husband for the very first time.




John and Katie both attended St. Pius X School for five years, from kindergarten - fourth grade, and they were never in the same homeroom. They had many mutual friends, but really never reacted with one another. John went to Pickerington schools beginning in the fifth grade.


John and Katie continued to see each other from time to time over the next decade at their families' church, Seton Parish, the Pickerington Kroger, or at Morgan Cornwell's house.


Due to having so many mutual friends, they began to hang out a lot in college. While Morgan is most definitely one of the biggest reasons that the two began to see one another, this was in NO way a setup! After a year or so of being friends, John moved next door with their friend, Bob Carlisle.


There were definitely feelings between the two (one probably more than the other), but it never seemed right, until 2014. Katie wanted to take a date to her friend, Sarah Lankford's, wedding in Cincinnati. Katie asked John to go with her as a friend, but when they returned to Columbus, they began going on dates and hanging out without their other friends. And as they say, the rest is history.


Over the course of John and Katie's nearly four year relationship, they fell in love while attending OSU football games, riding in Pelotonia together, and traveling with one another's families. They began creating new traditions like going to Timbuk Farms to cut down a real Christmas tree and buying Christmas ornaments in all of the cities that they travel to together. They have a shared love of watching the office and pretending to be experienced wine tasters.




We are so incredibly thankful that the Lord has brought us to the vocation of marriage. We feel blessed that we had years of friendship and a history of growing up alongside one another. These two factors have built an incredible foundation and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for us.



Fun Fact: Due to Katie being a second grade teacher at a Catholic school (Saint Mary in German Village), she gets very excited about sacraments. John and Katie made their First Holy Communion at the same mass in 1999. Now, 20 years later, in June 2019, they will receive another sacrament together.

Hi everyone, Katie here. I am going to go ahead and tell you our proposal story from my point of view. I hope you enjoy our story as much as I do!

Friday, March 16, 2018

It was an almost normal Friday for me at work, but I was extra happy because it was the day before St. Patrick's day. I was rockin' my "Luckiest Teacher Ever" tee with my 2nd grade teacher twin, Gretchen Schott. The shirt of course was referring to my luck for being the teacher of my sweet students, but I had no idea that I would be feeling like the luckiest person ever by late afternoon.

I've always loved St. Patrick's Day. My mom is known for her semi- legendary green jell-o shots and I get to pretend I am way more Irish than I actually am! John and I enjoy celebrating this day together. He usually takes a half day at work, watches the parade with his dad and then lets me come hang out with them later. All week, John had been super annoyed that St. Patrick's Day was on a Saturday, but he planned on taking a half day on Friday anyway. He still went to lunch with his dad and then told me he was running errands.

Quick Back Story: after work, John and I had plans to go to an early-ish dinner with our friends, Tiffany & Andrew Maloney (& baby Jane).
On my break, John called and asked if he could come meet me in German Village right after school. I thought nothing of this because we meet near my work for happy hours on Fridays fairly often. I made sure that I was ready to leave as soon as my students left for the day.
Once all my students were gone, I began to text John to get our plans together...

Me: Where are you?
John: I'm here.
Me: Are you coming to the back parking lot?
John: Pulled over out front.

I understood that as, he had pulled his car over on 3rd Street and was waiting for me to come out to his car. NOPE. I walked to the front of the school and saw a police office standing outside of John's BMW, writing him a ticket. I walked back into our school building so fast. My coworkers that knew I was leaving work to go meet John looked at my confused. I said, "Does anyone else want to be Katie Dawes right now? Because I don't. John is pulled over out front getting a ticket in a school zone...MY school zone. He is going to be in the worst mood tonight." (Seriously, ask Maggie Dierringer...she heard my whole entire rant!)

A few minutes later, I went to the back parking lot and I see John talking to my coworker, Luke Hanson. The two seemed happy and were laughing, for a moment I thought, maybe he didn't get a ticket. NOPE. He did.

Me: "Ok, so I guess we should probably just head over by where we are meeting Tiff & Andrew for dinner?"
John: "No, let's at least go walk and get a drink around here."

I still swear I heard him say "I heard of this French bar".
Moments later, we turn on Beck Street and I point out a cute, small, familiar park. Frank Fetch Park.

John: "That's where I wanted to go."
Me: "Ummm that's not a bar."
John: "Let's just check it out!"

Ok people, this was a beautiful afternoon...but this was middle of March in Columbus, Ohio. The scenery had not yet bloomed, there were planter flowers on a lonely wooden picnic table, and very little foot traffic around us. We walked into the tiny, quaint park and I kind of just looked at him. He begins mumbling about some flowers and pointing out things to me in the opposite direction of him. I turn to look, yep dead plants...I see them, John. John was fidgetting, but smiling. Ok, am I about to get engaged...oh my gosh...a box!
John drops to his knee...I'm pretty sure I said "Oh my gosh, no way!" as tears filled my eyes. Clearly I was in shock, but not answering the question he was about to ask. "I love you, Katelyn Dawes. Will you marry me?" I scream cried YES! I hugged him so tight and wouldn't let go, not wanting this special moment to end. Minutes later, I asked if I could wear the ring...yeah we were so excited that we forgot to put the ring on my finger.

So Simple. So Us. So Perfect.

His proposal was so sweet, thoughtful and romantic. As we walked back to my school on the brick sidewalks of German Village, I began asking him questions about his quest to find my perfect ring and who knew about his proposal plans.

Me: "So when did you get the ring?"
John: "Last night, I couldn't wait any longer."

^The most romantic thing I'd ever heard...he only had the ring for 20 hours.Cue more tears!

As the saying goes..."Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite"