Bryce and I met when I was an orientation leader at Clemson our sophomore years in college. Bryce was transferring to Clemson as a Biology major, and I had the pleasure of trying to help the annoying guy in my group pick his classes – yes, I mean Bryce!  Fast forward to a year later and I see Bryce again at a Sigma Kappa function and he asked, “do you remember me?” and sure enough I did… mostly because he was a loyal follower and liker of my pics on Instagram! The next day I went to a fraternity tailgate, and he spotted me out of the crowd, handed me a beer (yuck!), started talking to me, and that’s how it all started. We split Moes after the game that night, which became a tradition for us, and started hanging out basically every day. We started dating shortly after on October 3, 2018, and we have been inseparable since. Bryce was my dance partner at every function in college, made me countless of dinners in the crockpot, has sat with me through many late nights of studying, and was there the day we took home our sweet puppy Maggie! I love Bryce for the way he encourages me, listens to me, and isn’t afraid to tell me to suck it up and do the hard things in life. He is steady, kind, funny, and intelligent. He is my absolute best friend and who I have dreamed of marrying for so long.

It didn’t take long into our relationship that we both knew it was a forever one. We had been dating for over 2 years when I was thinking about what our next step as a couple was going to be and when it was going to happen. Around that time, I was talking with a lot of friends, and as friends always do, they were asking when I was going to “pop the question.” I hadn’t really sat down and thought about it at all. I knew that it was going to happen, I just didn’t know when the right time was, so I sat down and thought. Mallory and I had already been in a long-distance relationship for almost a year because of school. It’s tough living so far away from the person you love the most in the world for such a long time, and I could tell it wasn’t easy for Mallory either. That day, thinking about our next step and where we were, I knew there wasn’t a better time to make this long-term commitment to my best friend than right now. I started planning with Mallory’s friends, Shannon, Elizabeth, and Julianne, of a way to make this moment as perfect for Mallory as we could. The ring part is easy, everyone that knows Mallory knows that she knew exactly what she wanted, and I knew exactly where to find that. Next was the decision of where it would be, and that was easy too. Where our first trip as a couple was and one of Mallory’s favorite places… Asheville. The day of couldn’t have gone smoother with all the help I got from friends, our families, and cooperative doggos. Walking to the spot I could tell Mallory had no clue any of this was going to happen. I’m sure looking back she’s like duh it was going to happen, when does Bryce not complain about dressing up to take pictures? I guess she just thought I was being well-behaved that day. After months of preparation and communicating secretly, it was time. We got to the spot and all the words I had planned went to nothing. Looking at Mallory, so beautiful that day, on one knee, only four words could come out… Will you marry me?