Maddie and Tristan met their freshmen year at Maryville University of St. Louis. Maddie spent half a semester at Illinois State before deciding a big school wasn't for her. She transferred to Maryville for Spring semester and quickly started making friends. After about a month of living in Saints Hall, Maddie and Tristan met on the elevator going up to their floor. They instantly clicked and had fun talking about Tristan's veterinary medicine externship where he got to de-horn goats.

They ran into each other a couple of times after their first meeting and finally Tristan asked Maddie for her Snapchat. They went on their first date on March 21st, 2018. Tristan was definitely in love because he got up to meet Maddie for breakfast after her 8:00am Chemistry class. They went on their second date two days later at the coffee shop on campus where they talked for hours about their favorite things, their families, and why they wanted to be veterinarians one day. They went on many fun dates after this (getting beignets in downtown St. Louis, playing with puppies at Petland, and many Gander Hall dinner dates). Maddie quickly realized that she loved Tristan, and Tristan was the first to say it by using a 'How I Met Your Mother' reference. When they both had to go back home for the summer, Maddie told her Mom that if her and Tristan stayed together until they came back for classes in the fall, that she would marry him.

Senior year at Maryville rolled around and by this point, Maddie knew she was no longer wanting to be a veterinarian and wanted to pursue becoming an audiologist. She ultimately decided to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Tristan quickly decided that he was going to move with Maddie to Indiana and start their next chapter.

During the first year of Maddie's graduate program, she suddenly announced she needed a Disney trip to de-stress from the craziness of graduate school. Tristan had been thinking about proposing since they moved in together in August 2021 and knew this would be the perfect spot.

The morning of the proposal on 1/7/2022, Maddie still had no idea and was trying to get ready to go to Magic Kingdom. Tristan got ready in 5 minutes and was very antsy. When they got to the park, Tristan was insistent on taking pictures before they would go on rides which drove Maddie crazy. She finally gave in and they got in line for photos. Tristan kept trying to turn Maddie around and not listen to the photographer so Maddie had to keep telling him to wait. Finally, Maddie turned around and Tristan got down on one knee. When Maddie turned back around and saw Tristan, she instantly started crying and was speechless. She said yes and they celebrated the rest of the day in the most magical place on Earth.

While Maddie and Tristan decided to wait to get married until after Maddie graduated, they could not wait to start their forever. While waiting, they decided to add four paws to their little family and adopted Bonnie in January 2023.

It's FINALLY time for the wedding (a long time coming)!!! Maddie and Tristan are so excited to celebrate their Next Giant Leap with you all!!