The 28th of June was a wonderful day for a wedding. Elliot and Chasey had a beautiful ceremony and reception at Celebrations at the Reservoir. I asked Elliot and Chasey a few questions about themselves:

1) Tell me how you first met?

Chasey: We met up at school, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. At the time, one of my gymnastics teammates was dating one of his football teammates. We met there, but I don’t really remember meeting him until the second time we met, which was at the weight room. The same teammate of mine and I were lifting when Elliot came into the room. Her and Elliot were talking, and then she asked me if I remembered Roach from the other night. Naturally, I said no, but then I quickly remembered that he was the guy I danced with. Pretty much since that moment we started talking and getting to know each other, and before we knew it, we started dating.

Elliot: Just like Chasey mentioned but from my point of view: I just finished working and decided to go meet up with my football teammates at a bar (Whiskey River). Ryan and Taylor were the two first people I saw, and Taylor introduced me to Chasey. A couple minutes later, a popular song came on, and without hesitation, Chasey dragged me out to the dance floor. She was a great dancer… which made me look like a great dancer… because without her, I’m an ok dancer. Unfortunately, she wandered off later on that night, and I knew I had to meet her again. Just by chance, I was lifting and saw Taylor stroll into the weight room with Chasey. From then on, I don’t know what Taylor said to Chasey, but I couldn’t thank her enough. We started to hang out and before we knew it we were dating.

2) When did you know he/she was the one?

I pretty much knew Elliot was the one within a couple of months after dating. From the very get go, we have been doing a very long distance relationship. Elliot was living down in Atlanta, and I was going to school up in WI and still living at home in VA. For me, there was no real big event when I knew. I just knew with both of us making an effort to see each other when we could and knowing that we share the same values towards family and life, I felt Elliot was the guy for me.

I knew Chasey was the one for me when she came to visit me in Atlanta, GA for the first time. We visited a lot of different attractions in Atlanta and the one place where I knew I was going to marry her was at Turner Field for an Atlanta Braves game. It was Fourth of July weekend, and my dad had third baseline tickets. Unfortunately, it rained during the end of the game before the fireworks. But to my surprise, Chasey didn’t mind the rain. ¾ of the crowd left which opened up seats near the field. So we ventured on down to get a better view. The look on Chasey’s face being at a MLB game, raining, on third base line, on Fourth of July weekend was priceless. To our luck, when the fireworks started the rain stopped. I couldn’t stop staring at Chasey and her beautiful smile as the light of the fireworks flickered around her. That’s when I knew she was the one for me.

3) Tell me about the proposal.

This is a long story…Elliot asked for my parents permission last July when my parents were helping me move down to New Orleans. My parents were thrilled, and my mom told Elliot that I had recently just inherited my great great grandmother’s ring. My mom, Elliot, and a good family friend, who happens to be a jeweler, all worked very hard on the engagement ring. The real problem was getting Elliot the ring because the ring was in Virginia, but Elliot planned the proposal up in Wisconsin. Fortunately, I had a teammate of mine back from VA, who was driving up to WI for school at the end of August. She took the ring up to WI, and was able to get it to Elliot’s best friend/ football teammate from college, Jimmy. Jimmy and his wife kept the ring from August-October in a safe. We were heading up to La Crosse for one of Elliot’s friend’s wedding. Elliot managed to get the ring from Jimmy that Thursday, October 24, night when we flew into WI. Then that Friday morning, October 25, Elliot went on a bluff hike on Granddad’s Bluff in La Crosse. Once at the top of the bluff, Elliot had me look through those binocular machines because there was some type of “new addition” made to the football stadium. I keep looking for this “new addition” I see a huge sign across the stadium saying “Marry me?” I turn around and Elliot is down on one knee with my great great grandmother’s ring. He asked me, “Well what did ya see?” I said, “Marry me?” He said, “Will ya?” Of course I said yes!

As you can tell, Elliot planned this out long and hard with the help of many people. I had no idea he was going to do it especially since his good friend was getting married, and I didn’t want to take away their day, but Elliot did ask ahead of time to make sure that they were okay with it, and they were. I can remember being so happy and excited that Elliot and I get to start something, and something that will be for the rest of our lives.

Elliot: The only thing I would add is when the flight from New Orleans to Milwaukee was cancelled, and I thought the engagement was a failed attempt. The airline wanted to redirect us to Madison, WI or Minneapolis, MN, but I was persistent in getting another flight directly to Milwaukee for that ring.

4) Tell me the one thing you love most about each other.

To name just one thing I love the most about Elliot is challenging because there are so many things, but if I had to name one thing it’s how thoughtful and caring he is (okay that was 2 things). He’s always thinking of others before himself, and willing to be a helping hand at any given moment. I remember first meeting and getting to know Elliot, all of his friends kept saying so many good things about him. I just always felt I was in good hands with him because of these qualities that he displays.

Like Chasey said above it’s hard to pick one thing when there are so many things I love about her. The one that comes to mind first would be her determination. Whatever goal or idea she has, she will achieve it. Everyone she comes in touch with looks up to her and is a great role model for everyone. Not only is she self driven but she drives others to be the best and is never satisfied with “just enough”. She has made me into a better person and makes me keep aspiring for new heights and new goals.