The year was 2020. We started messaging on a night after, most likely, one too many tequila sodas for each of us. Tanner went back to Arlington, Nebraska from Purdue while on Spring Break. All that was on his mind was getting back to school, finishing out the year, and finally walking across that stage to receive his Master’s Degree. Until the dreaded email came - COVID had hit the Hoosier state and no one would be coming back to college for the foreseeable future. This brought on a lot of issues for Tanner, with so much life left back in Indiana, and NOW he was falling for a girl that’s a nine hour drive away. Meanwhile, Mackenzie was back in Indy signing on to rent an amazing condo on the Monon with her bestie Elizabeth. They were gearing up for the summer of their lives - laying by the pool with a margarita in hand, walking down to Broad Ripple Avenue every night, friends crashing in their bonus room. Enter COVID to ruin the party. Between her *totally essential* job as a Kitchen and Bath designer, and the statewide Travel Ban, the government and a global pandemic didn’t exactly care about her blossoming online romance. Our plans to meet came to one conclusion: Tanner would come back to Indiana to move out of his apartment and take Mackenzie out on their first date. We’ve done a number of things not so traditionally, naturally our first date is no exception. With no indoor dining allowed, we walked down the Monon, picked up food and drinks to-go, and ate dinner on Mackenzie’s balcony. We decided to see each other every day for the next week, and that Mackenzie would meet Tanner’s family at the end of it! Tanner ended the week full of emotions. Anxiety about what the near future would hold. Joy, after spending the best week of his life visiting Mackenzie! Sadness, now that the best week had come to an end and the distance began. Thank God again for technology, because that was what shrank the distance between us for next few months! Mackenzie ended the week by texting her friends, “I’m telling you, I just met my in-laws!” A few weeks later, they were able to have their first date out at a restaurant in Lincoln, NE and Mackenzie met more of Tanner’s family, and some friends - Thanks to the Simpsons for hosting that game night! In June of 2020, Tanner came to meet all of Mackenzie’s friends and family, and to make their relationship official. Six LONG months of long-distance dating later, Tanner was finally hired for his dream job at an amazing company in Indianapolis, and he was able to officially move! At just a seven minute drive from the condo, we all agreed to be roommates. Elizabeth and Mackenzie finally got the summer of their lives, and Tanner and Mackenzie spent years making friends, memories, and local connections enough to decide that they never wanted to leave the neighborhood. In May of 2024, we moved into our new home in the Village, just a few doors down, courtesy of the Cazares family. We’re so looking forward to starting our married life there! We’ve had so much fun picking out special pieces of our story to share with the most important people to us. Camping in the Hoosier National Forest was a core part of where our relationship blossomed. We both love nature and the appeal of the quiet life. It was at one of the Indiana state parks where Tanner proposed! This is what inspired the save-the-date design, a perfect representation of the who’s, what’s, and where’s that surrounded our relationship. We're recording Tanner playing some family favorite songs on the piano for ceremony music. We'll be sharing some of our favorite foods for the reception on the big day - Street tacos and Nothing Bundt Cakes, and Tanner and Mackenzie will be sitting at the dining table from our home! Our story wouldn’t be “Our Story” without everyone who will read this. We are beyond honored and blessed to welcome each and every one of you into our marriage. - Tanner + Mackenzie