Mark and McKenzie met during their time at the University of Iowa. They went on their first date to La Regia, a small burrito place off of Highway 6 in Iowa City and just hit it off from there, (even though McKenzie didn't get in a word during their first date). There were countless Alpha Chi Omega date events that they attended together, lots of studying at the library or the IMU, nights out on the town, a bunch of family events, birthdays that are the day after each other, and hikes at Squire Point. Their first year anniversary, Mark planned a romantic date to Hearth in Iowa City and that's where they decided that they wanted to move across the country together to start their life together in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly after moving there, they decided to adopt a dog named Zeus who ended up being the biggest drama queen and momma's boy ever. On their second year anniversary they went to Sedona, Arizona for a weekend away and had the most wonderful time exploring new places together. About four months later, due to some family health issues and a LOT of home sickness, they decided to move back to the Midwest and finally settled on Madison, Wisconsin. McKenzie was finally able to dig in to her passions and started to work at the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Mark got to continue to work with Scenic Industries, LLC. his company from Arizona working on scenic design and installation and continue to travel across the country. On November 18th, 2017, as Mark and McKenzie went to visit the Mellecker family he popped the question to her in the place that they met; the Main Library at the University of Iowa. That is where the planning began...