Looking back to where Ted and I started, to where we are today seems like the craziest journey. On the outside, it may look like I have known of Ted for what seems to be forever. Although, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I really met Ted, and oh boy I was missing out!

I will take it back to the beginning. I met the whole Christian family very briefly many years ago through our mothers who both worked together as nurses in the same hospital. Many of you may think that’s when my friendship with Cassie started but her and I were VERY different children at that time… It took our two schools to consolidate which was the best thing that could have happened to me. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and without the consolidation of our two schools, nobody would be reading this story today. Anyway, it probably took all of a couple days before Cassie and I become best friends. We were those annoyingly inseparable girls. This friendship led us to staying at each other's homes quite often so naturally you would think I would get to know her older brother, Ted. However, Ted & I just never really crossed paths, and I never thought twice about getting to know my best friend's brother as anything more than "Cassie's brother".

Now jumping ahead, a bit. I graduated college and was just so excited for the summer ahead of me before starting my first real job. My girlfriends and I set off to have our best summer yet! Cassie and I had this incredible idea to go on our own adventure to Bayfield, Wisconsin. That trip is when everything changed! We were exploring the town and enjoying a few drinks when out of the blue she asked me a very loaded question, "Maddy, if you could build your dream Man what would he be like?" After a few minutes of really thinking about her question and possibly another beverage, I came up with my answer. In classic Cassie fashion it didn't take her more than a split second to respond with, "You know you just explained my brother right.” Not much more was said on that topic the rest of the night... Then couple weeks later we reproached the conversation, and I gave Cassie the green light! She went ahead and set up a dinner reservation, and texted us the time and date to be there. Once we were done with dinner neither of us wanted it to end quite yet. We ended up walking and going to an Arcade to play games. As some of you may know, staying up late isn’t my favorite thing, especially on a weeknight. However, this night felt like it deserved an exception. Needless to say, I left grinning from ear to ear and had the feeling of butterflies in my stomach. I can still picture me driving straight to my sister’s house, not trying to scream and wake her newborn baby, but also sharing that, “IT WAS THE BEST DATE I'VE EVER BEEN ON!”

Since that date, I knew that Cassie was right, and Ted was in fact my dream man!

For people that don't know Maddy, she's your classic Swiftie. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t rubbed off onto me! So, to think of where we are today does truly feel like a fairy tale Love Story.

Back in high school I knew Maddy but not very well. I played baseball with her brother, knew her sister, and her now husband Matt; but not Maddy. All I knew was she'd come around quite a bit and was my sister Cassie’s best friend. Fast forward 3 years when she graduated high school, and I was home from college. After they graduated high school Cassie, and I became very close. Our relationship was no longer brother to little sister, but close if not best friends. This is when I would start teasing her about how much I had a crush on Maddy and wanted to marry her one day. (I played it off as a joke, but in reality, I wasn’t joking)

Fast forward another 4 years and I was sitting in my house, or as Maddy likes to call it, “the gross frat house”. I was talking to Cassie on the phone, and she was telling me about this trip that Maddy and her recently went on in Wisconsin. I jokingly said (again joking but in my heart serious), “Oh fun! How’s my future wife doing?” She replied, “Haha, funny you say that because I think she actually likes you.” I still remember almost fainting in the kitchen, because I couldn’t believe it. From there, I knew Maddy and I were both talking to Cassie and frankly driving her crazy. Safe to say we were both (or at least I was) too scared to say something to each other. Cassie ended up texting us saying something like, “I’m done with being the middleman, you two are going on a date at this time and this place.”

I had never been so nervous in my life. I finally had the chance to take the girl of my dreams on a date and all I could think of was, “don’t f* this up!” The date turned out to be the best date I’ve ever been on. The next day I was spamming Cassie, asking how Maddy thought it went. When she said that Maddy felt the same exact way I did, I was overwhelmed with joy! I’m sure there’s a lot of details I’m leaving out so if you want to hear more, Cassie and Hannah can give you an earful! Naturally we went on a couple more dates and the rest is history!