Sam and I met on June 23rd 2017 at a party at his apartment. I don’t think Sam was ever expecting his future wife to just show up at his front door and introduce herself but that’s what happened. My best friend Melissa and her boyfriend (now fiancée) Slater had told me about Slater’s “Cute New Roommate” and when we were introduced I chatted with him for about two minutes before I got very shy and nervous and basically ran away from him (nice). Sam and I went to the same church when I moved downtown and hung out in the same friend group for about two years before we ever went on a date. I called him “Cute Sam” behind his back during this time and had the biggest crush on him ever but we had been friends for so long I thought I was friend-zoned for sure. In December of last year I got a text from Sam asking if I wanted to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie (Um of course!!!??) with a few friends. Sam will say he was “feeling it out here.” Then NYE we were at a concert that was super fun but also very crowded and I was in need of a break. As I always have all of my emotions all over my face at any given time (no poker face here, literally an open book) Sam noticed that I looked in need of a break away from the crowds and asked if I wanted to get water and get some air. The concert was P A C K E D with about a gazillion people and we had been front row. In order for me to not get swept up in the crazy city NYE crowds of Chicago, Sam reached his hand back and I grabbed it. This is when Sam will say that he knew he was in.

A couple of days went by and on Wednesday, I got a very nervous sounding voicemail from Sam saying he had something to ask me and if I would give him a call back. :) That Saturday we had our first date at a Mexican restaurant called El Nuevo Mexicano in Lincoln Park. We talked for 3 hours. Sam planned fun dates every weekend for the next 3 months including the Art Museum, ice skating, and dinner all over the city. Picture the montage scene from any romantic comedy. This included smiling and looking at each other and laughing and walking around the city all googly-eyed.

In March, we were at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, one of our favorite places, and we sat on a bench and I thought he was going to ask me to be his girlfriend (Yay!!). It was so romantic there with all of the flowers around and a fountain and would have been the perfect place! Instead, he said he would like to talk to my dad. At first, I laughed at him and said “my dad? He is not your type!” Sam went on to explain that he would like to talk to my dad about dating me. I didn’t think anyone still did that! He talked about how he was dating with the intention of marrying me and how he wanted my dad to get to know him and see if that was okay. He said there were 5 things he liked about me: 1. My relationship with God is the absolute most important part of my life 2. I am super close with my family 3. I have an awesome group of girl friends who encourage and love and challenge me 4. My personality is warm and has a way of inviting people in 5. He said I was beautiful for the first time and that he loves my eyes (swoon) He also talked about dating was purposeful and how he wanted to get to know me better and what the bible said about marriage. So then he and my dad had coffee and Sam told all of these things to my dad. He called my dad “sir” which I am pretty sure my dad laughed at. I think my dad would say that he could see that Sam saw me for exactly who I was and cared very deeply about me. So he gave him the go ahead. Sam showed up after coffee with pink flowers and asked me to me his girlfriend (he was so excited that he basically just blurted it out on the side of the street as soon as he saw me).

Fast forward 7 months later to October 26th (if you are following the timeline we basically dated for 10 months because hey, when you know, you know :)). We had plans to go to our favorite coffee shop Philz and read, watch the Wisconsin football game and then go to our friend’s house who were having a happy hour. Post coffee shop we were walking back to his apartment when he asked if I would like to keep going on a walk before the game. Walking around Lincoln Park is something we do literally all the time so I didn’t think anything of it. We walk to a little grassy area where we had spent a fair amount of time in the summer reading and picnicking and there was a church bench there with a blanket, a heart shaped pillow, a bunch of flowers and two bibles (pic below!). He told me he loved me for the first time. And then he gave this whole speech about why. He wrote it all down for me in a bible that had Rachel Schuette engraved on the front and talked about how God is going to be the center of our marriage. Then gave me a dress that he picked out for me to wear to a surprise engagement party with both of our families. In summary, it was perfect.

We are so excited to be able to celebrate our wedding with you! Our hope for July 3rd is that you will be able to have a night of dancing, catching up with friends and celebrating being together after this crazy year. We look forward to seeing you! “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:3-6.