Like all introverts, Derek and Aimee's story starts with an extrovert friend. Their freshman year of college, Aimee was in a freshman introductory class with Derek's roommate, Andy Thompson. After meeting in the cafeteria through Andy, and going to a movie night or two with the same group of friends, Derek and Aimee grew a friendship of their own based on movies, TV shows, and superheroes. This friendship continued and grew over the four years at university, as did the feelings of trust and comfort in each other's company, but the timing never really lined up. Graduation came, and Aimee headed back home to New Hampshire while Derek stayed in Illinois. They kept in touch, continuing to banter over college football and share in the excitement with each new Marvel movie release. It wasn't until October 2016 when Aimee found out that she would be moving to Wisconsin for a teaching position the following year that things started to come together. While hanging out together in June 2017, before Aimee headed to Wisconsin to start job training, they admitted to each other that their feelings had grown past friendship and decided to give that dating thing a try. And it must have worked, because here we are on their wedding page!

While marriage had been discussed, Aimee didn't know how soon Derek planned on proposing. Only known to a close friend of his, Derek had been ring shopping since March, spending countless hours after school trying to find the perfect ring before Aimee would get off of work herself and come over. Just one year from the beginning of their love story, Derek and Aimee chose to go out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. She was not expecting anything, nor did she sense the nerves of her soon-to-be fiance. They went to one of their favorite restaurants, Meson Sabika, to enjoy some sangria and tapas. Since it was so beautiful out, Derek suggested that they walk down the street to Centennial Park to catch the sunset. Aimee had never been to Centennial Park, so they walked along the creek and climbed the giant hill to the very top where you can see Downtown Naperville. As Aimee looked around, Derek started fumbling in his pocket. Next thing she knew, Derek was down on one knee with the biggest smile on his face. Lots of tears and laughs followed, but there was a yes in there somewhere. Their dating anniversary was now their engagement anniversary, and will soon be their wedding anniversary!