When I first met Clayton, the 1st thought I had was "he is so loud." That hasn't changed much to be completely honest. I had started to be interested in him about the same time he thought I friend zoned him. So we had a slow start. He came over to my house for a movie night with some friends, and I had decided the theme was pj night. I wore a flying squirrel onesie with no shame, and we all ended up at the store for late night snacks. Long story short, Clayton ended up giving me a piggyback ride most of the time we were there, and I thought that was the end of that, and he would ask me out soon, wrong! He waited a whole month to ask me out, and I got so impatient that I cornered him about it. Clayton told me he had been trying to ask permission from my family 1st and that I needed to be patient. Obviously, he finally asked me out and, well, here we are now!
-Madison Arntz

When I first decided I wanted to marry Maddy, I knew she would want to have nice proposal photos. I got a recommendation from her brother on a photographer, and he had good experience with doing proposal photos. I then knew that she would need a pretty ring to compliment her beautiful self and went with her mother and sister to pick out a ring (I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself). My mom informed me Botanica Gardens has an illuminations night where you can walk around and see Christmas lights. I thought this would be a perfect cover-up for a date we could go on and have an opportunity to propose. I watched a YouTube video over and over again to find the perfect spot to propose, and when I finally did so, I discussed it with my photographer, which he agreed would be a good spot. When the day finally came, we were nearing the spot where I was going to propose. Little did I know a random couple going to sit down and eat funnel cake would throw off my plans. Maddy immediately wanted to find where we could get funnel cake, and I had to quite literally pull her to where I wanted her to be. At that moment, I'm sure she was very confused, but that confusion immediately turned into happiness as she realized I was proposing. Although she loves her ring and that I did a good job making sure there were photos, she still wants her funnel cake.
-Clayton Ehrstein