Marissa and I first crossed paths as acquaintances/kinda friends back in our freshman year of 2016. It wasn't until sophomore year, when we found ourselves in the same ceramics class, that I really started to notice her—or rather, my crush on her began. My flirting skills were on par with a kindergartener’s: think teasing and the occasional, accidental destruction of a clay pot. But hey, it was a start.

Fast forward to the winter dance. In a moment of bravery (or teenage oblivion), I asked her to Snowball - the winter dance, after one of her volleyball practices. To my surprise, and contrary to her lack of outward enthusiasm, she agreed—even though she later admitted that at the time, she didn’t like me at all and found my attempts at flirting more annoying than charming. But who was right in the end?

After the dance, I didn’t quite sweep her off her feet, and it took a few more months before we started talking seriously. Our friend groups conveniently overlapped that summer of 2018, and having friends with a pool and another with a lake house didn’t hurt our chances of getting Marissa and her friends to hang out with us (shoutout to Robby and Cullen). By the end of June, we officially became boyfriend and girlfriend—though, in my head, it was already a done deal, we just needed to make it Instagram official on June 29th, 2017.

Fast forward a bit, and we graduated high school and went off to college, facing the first real distance in our relationship. Marissa stayed close by, while I hustled at my parents' home for two years before transferring to the University of Minnesota. Finally, we were both Gophers, spending our last two years of college together, bonding over game days and bonfires, and marveling at how much we had grown from that first awkward winter dance.

Then came the inevitable question that followed us around: “When are you going to propose?” After many coy smiles and dodged questions, we planned a post-grad trip to Europe with our high school friends. Given our shared wanderlust, I knew it would be the perfect setting to finally pop the question. I held onto the ring for three long weeks, waiting for just the right moment. That moment came in Dubrovnik, Croatia on our six year anniversary.

M&A

Wedding Day

4:30 PM

Ceremony

Reception