As told by Neil

Jade has been spearheading the wedding planning effort and has done an incredible job so far. While I have done a great job of providing moral support throughout the process, she asked me if I could put something together for “our story” on our wedding page. Without further ado, here we go:

To begin, I must give credit where credit is due. There is probably no story without Jesse and Cassie Costigan. I had been working with Jesse for about 2.5 years, and Jade had been working with Cassie for about 2 years at the time. Jesse schemed up the idea of trying to set us up, and they both spent a few months dropping hints to us any time they could. Both Jade and I ignored them as the thought of going out with a complete stranger sounded like a terrible idea. Fast forward to May 2019.

May 2019 started off on a great foot. We happened to be at the same baseball game, where my Buena Vista Beavers beat the inferior (just kidding) Coe College. Jade saw me from afar (clearly, she was checking me out because she picked me out of the crowd). It got back to me that she saw me, so that was finally enough for me to shoot my shot. I spent probably an hour crafting the initial three sentence text, but thankfully, she accepted my invitation.

I can’t believe I had the guts to send that initial text. I usually don’t make it a habit to text random strangers asking them to hang out. I truly had no idea how it would go going into that first date, and my expectations were pretty low. I think Jade would say the same as she had told her roommates she’d probably be back home in an hour or so.

We went to a restaurant after work a couple days later and enjoyed a few drinks and snacked on some chips and salsa. Jade said she wasn’t hungry so wasn’t going to order a meal, so I didn’t either even though I was starving the whole time. There were some nerves from both of us, which was to be expected, but we had a great time talking about anything and everything. Jade may or may not have led about 80% of the conversation, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows us. Four hours and a few tequila shots later, the date was over. Jade went back to her house, and I went back to my apartment and immediately ate an entire frozen pizza.

That date went better than either of us could’ve imagined beforehand, and we went out again for a second one shortly after that. As the saying goes, the rest is history. We’ve been together for 4+ wonderful years where we’ve lived through COVID lockdowns, bought a house, raised two puppies, survived 5 Iowa/Iowa State football games, seen numerous concerts, and made countless other memories along the way. I love Jade with all my heart, and I can’t wait to call her my wife. We’re so excited for all of our friends and family to join us in celebration for the wedding. It’s going to be a hell of a party!