Date of Marriage: 07/29/2017
Did you meet before, during, or after your time at Walsh?: During
Where did you meet?: Opening Weekend during the dinner for Education majors
How many children/pets?: None
How They Met:
"We met during Opening Weekend at Walsh University at the dinner for Education majors by randomly sitting at the same table as one another. We quickly struck up a conversation and realized that we had a lot in common, including the Honors program and a shared double major in Math and Education. That day marked the beginning of a well-known and widely accepted four-year friendship. We spent the majority of our time together on campus, taking all of the same classes, joining the same clubs, eating most meals together, and playing on the same intramurals teams. It quickly became a running joke that we were "attached at the hip" because you couldn't really find one of us without the other right there, too. We even fielded comments like, "When's the wedding?" and "Why don't you guys start dating already?" from that very first day to which we always responded, "We're just friends!" We even helped set each other up on dates and always accepted the other seeing different people. The night of graduation, however, as we packed up our cars and said goodbye to our friends, we decided to stick around longer than everyone else to have our own special goodbye. After all, we had just spent four years as each other's right hand man and we knew saying goodbye wasn't going to be easy. It was in that moment that we realized we didn't want to spend our days apart but would be perfectly content being attached at the hip forever. We finally admitted our feelings for one another and shortly after, we began to date."
The Proposal:
"On August 28th, 2016, exactly five years to the date that we met at the Education dinner during Opening Weekend, AJ reserved the same conference room in the Barrette Center at Walsh University that we met in. He had a candlelight dinner set up which included a printout of our Opening Weekend schedules from five years earlier. As I perused my schedule and reminisced on the weekend, AJ snuck a ring box out from the bread basket and got down on knee. After a well-rehearsed speech and an emphatic, "YES!" we popped champagne and enjoyed an Olive Garden-catered meal served by AJ's brother (and soon-to-be best man) and my best friend (and soon-to-be maid of honor). The surprises weren't over, however. After dinner, AJ suggested dessert at Handel's Ice Cream and I readily agreed. As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, however, I saw what he was up to. Waiting outside of Handel's were both sets of parents and siblings, ready to congratulate us and welcome us with open arms. Talk about a whirlwind of emotions!"
Where Are They Now?
"Currently, we live in an apartment in North Royalton and are actively searching for our first home together. We are both high school math teachers, Erin at St. Ignatius High School and AJ at his alma mater, Wadsworth High School. After a honeymoon in Santorini and Athens, we have been bit by the travel bug and look forward to planning more trips in the coming years."