Ty's POV:

It all started in 2016 when a mutual friend (shout out to Kayla Reed) was sitting in a McDonald's with me, trying to set me up with one of her friends. I wasn't really looking to date anyone at the time, but Kayla kept insisting that she was going to find someone for me. About a week later, while I was away at cross country regionals, she sent me a snap about a girl named Taylor Simpson with the text, “She already thinks you’re cute!” I mean, come on, who wouldn’t think I’m cute at the awkward age of 16? I was really nervous to send the first text, but I was fortunate enough to have Sam and JVD there to help combine our witty humor and irresistible charm to create the ultimate icebreaker: “Hey.”

The icebreaker worked as we started going out a few weeks later, even after my car got backed into while hanging out for the first time. That mishap wasn’t enough to stop me from wanting to see Tay more and more.

We finished up high school and were lucky enough to attend college near each other, just 15 minutes apart. The first year of school flew by, and we decided to get a kitten named Bear. Bear lived with my parents during the start of our second year in school, but we moved back in with them when COVID hit. We all know how that went for everyone, so we can skip over that time period and jump to our first overseas trip together.

In 2022, we went to the Netherlands for the Tug of War World Championships, where Tay was convinced I was going to propose. I kept reminding her that we had “only” been together for 6 years and us Gallaghers follow a very strict “7 Year Plan.” Even though I had told her I wasn’t going to propose, she seemed a little disappointed when there was ultimately no ring on her finger at the end of the trip. Unbeknownst to her, I had something up my sleeve for another trip that would be about a year later. This brings me to our trip to Switzerland, where I went against my better judgment and proposed to Tay 3 months before our 7 year anniversary.

Tay had no idea that on a cloudy and rainy day out on a peninsula in the Appenzell Mountain Range, she would have to answer one of the most important questions of her life, “Will you marry me?” If you couldn’t already tell, she said yes with teary eyes, swearing it was just the rain that was still coming down. We were so excited to celebrate with friends and family in Switzerland, and now we are so excited to celebrate with everyone here in Minnesota.

Tay’s POV:

For me, our story started back in 2015, during our sophomore year of high school, when I met Ty for the first time in English class. Although Ty had no idea who I was, my first impression of him was, “he’s cute but weird.” I had no idea that a year later, I would be dating that weird kid, and 10 years later, I would be marrying him.

Once we started talking, I realized I really liked this kid and was so eager to see him that I was willing to watch a chemistry show he was in for a class. He had no idea I was there, but the shock on his face when he ran shirtless down the hallway after “scoring a goal” with an empty water bottle was priceless. I’ve never seen someone turn more red from embarrassment. This confirmed my initial thought from a year earlier, “he’s cute but weird.”

Ty did a decent job at covering the years of us dating from his POV. Although I would disagree with his claim that I was convinced he would propose in the Netherlands, I knew this kid didn’t have it in him to plan something like that and pull it off. Turns out I was wrong because the following year when we went to Switzerland, he surprised me better than I could have ever imagined.

On the day of our, unbeknownst to me, engagement, I had planned a day trip to hike in the Appenzell mountains after seeing amazing pictures of the views from the top. After waking up early, traveling 4 hours by train, and hiking 6,316 feet to get to the top of the mountain, it was so foggy that we couldn’t see more than 5 feet in front of us. Disappointed with the view, we decided to grab coffee from the cafe at the top of the mountain, where we were informed that the hike we planned to take down was a bad idea because there was a big storm rolling in. At this point, I was ready to call it a day and take the gondola back to the bottom of the mountain. Ty, being optimistic (which should have been a sign that something was off), convinced me to stick with our plan to hike down but take a different route. I, of course, thought he was just being cheap and didn’t want to pay for the gondola ride, but I agreed to hike down. When we reached a lake between mountains, Ty asked if I wanted to walk around it, to which I responded, “not worth it, it will look the same from every angle”. After ruining that idea for him, he led me out to a peninsula so we could finish our lunch. Ty then asked me to take a picture of us, and again I should have been suspicious when the guy who hates pictures suggested we take one together, but me being oblivious, agreed to a picture. When he got down on one knee, I was shocked and blacked out everything he said, but I read between the lines and figured he had asked me to marry him.

We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate our wedding day surrounded by family and friends. After all these years, Ty has continued to solidify my first impression of him and I can’t wait to marry the cute but weird kid from my English class.

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