Sarah and I met in one of the most unique circumstances--we were supposed to go to Wuhan, China together in the summer of 2020 for a mission trip with our church. Of course that never came to be because Wuhan, China was ground zero for the infamous virus that shut down the world for so long. Even though our trip didn’t happen, Sarah and I still spent a lot of time getting to know each other really well and on December 26, 2019 we decided that we wanted to be more than friends. The next few years were filled with learning a ton about each other’s families, going through a year of COVID online school together, graduating college, and joining the real world. Through it all, Sarah and I continued to grow closer and closer. Because of COVID and the lockdown that followed, Sarah and I had to do a large portion of our relationship long-distance. These new elements--namely the long-distance, and the stress of the pandemic--allowed Sarah and I to see each other in a new light. We had to re-learn how to be intentional in our relationship while not being able to see each other. This allowed us to make intentionality one of the pillars of our relationship. We learned how to have dates over FaceTime with Netflix and delivered Chipotle as well as how to walk through some of the most difficult seasons of life together. It was during this time that I knew that I wanted to marry Sarah.

For those of you who know me, you know that I’m an all-in kind of guy. This “Full Send” nature didn’t take a backseat during Sarah and my relationship. I was determined to know whether or not Sarah was the girl that I wanted to marry within the first year. As a result, intentionality has been one of the key elements in our relationship. Sarah and I were super blessed in college to always have Friday off from class each week. This allowed Sarah and I to rebrand our extra weekend day to become “Date Days.” During these date days, Sarah and I would take turns planning out a day-long date and it was during one of these dates that I knew that Sarah was the woman I wanted to marry.

I knew from the very first interactions with Zac that he was different from any other guy I had met. What surprised me the most was his intentionality to get to know me as a friend, and then later pursue me in a relationship. I knew that I wanted to marry Zac within the couple months of dating when we were starting to go through really hard situations during quarantine. Not only did he stay by my side, but he helped me work through issues and did not give up on me. That kind of patience, commitment and love helped me realize that Zac is the man I wanted to marry.

The day that I knew I wanted to marry Sarah, I went online and bought her a necklace that had a little capsule on it. That capsule could open up and store a short note inside it. One time when Sarah came to visit, I gave that necklace to her with a secret note written inside. I made her promise not to open it until I told her that she could. Shockingly enough, she agreed and wore that necklace for a year and nine months without opening it and looking inside. After just over two years of dating and a conversation with Sarah’s parents over breakfast, it was finally time for Sarah and I to get engaged. The day of our engagement was a day that I had been dreaming about for almost a year and a half at this point so I had a very refined plan. I was able to enlist the help of many of Sarah and my friends to make the best day ever. At this point in the relationship, Sarah and I had gone on many day-long dates that we called date days. So, when I told Sarah to get something fancy on after church for a date day, she wasn’t surprised. However, when the day started with me telling her that she could finally open her necklace, we both knew that my plan was kicking into action. Throughout the day, Sarah and I visited 7 different places that carried significant meaning to our relationship. At each stop, I would give her a letter celebrating an aspect of our relationship that I love and a picture to go with the place we were at. The final location was the Iowa State Campanile and waiting for us was a song that I had recorded with our friend, a blank polaroid picture, a dozen white roses, and a piece of paper saying, “I’m tired of writing our stories on our own. What do you say we start writing our story together? Will you marry me?” Of course, she said “yes!” and now we are super excited to invite you to celebrate with Sarah and I as we begin writing this new chapter of our lives together.