How We Met:

Elle's Perspective:

We met at the greatest university on earth, Texas A&M. We were both in the same friend group and started hanging out a lot more together in a group during our junior year of college. At this time, I was pursuing my dream of going to PA school and my schedule was filled with working night shifts at the ER and trying to increase my GPA. Matthew started asking me to his date parties including his formal to New Orleans. I always had the best time but wasn’t sure about him yet. He finally got the courage to ask me on a formal date and I responded with a day 1 month from then. Apparently, that response confused him greatly because he was like why would she want to go a whole month from now. In my head, I was very stressed about school and work, so I had to just push it back (I always do that ask anyone, I’ll get dinner with you in 1 month hahah) . Our friends were so excited that this was happening and Hannah my college roommate was giving him advice on what to do for our first date. She was like take her to a picnic and make sure you bring vegetables haha. We had the best time on our first date, and every date thereafter I liked him more and more. I really saw his caring characteristics when we took his bulldog, Bubba, to the dog park. It was so hot and we were sweating like nobody's business. This was our 3rd date and we were both not fully comfortable with each other yet. I went and got Matthew a water because he was sweating so bad, and he immediately gave the ice water to Bubba. That's when I knew this guy thinks of others before himself and my heart melted.

We have been dating for 5 years now and have had to work through long distance when Matthew was in graduate school in California and when I was in PA school in Fort Worth. We have overcome many stressors together and have been able to cope better with each other. Matthew has only brought more joy to my life and made me a better person. I didn't know two opposite personalities could complement each other so well. Love you forever, Matthew.

Matthew's Perspective:

I was lucky enough to meet Elle through some of our mutual friends. I had been interested in her for a while so began asking her as my date to a few parties. I always had a great time with her, but I wasn’t sure if she was interested in anything more serious. It took longer than it should have, but I finally did get the courage to ask her out to dinner. I was expecting either a yes or a no, but instead got a specific date in 4 weeks that she would be free to go. Needless to say, I was confused and had to ask my sister for advice. Thankfully, Elle really did want to go on our date, but she was just dealing with a hectic schedule for the semester. From that first date throughout the next 5 years, I kept falling more in love with Elle and am so grateful to have her in my life. She has consistently driven me to be a better person and I’ve been so proud to see her accomplish her dreams and become a PA. Love you so much, Elle, and can’t wait to marry you!