They met among mutual friends at a party. “I was with my buddies,” he says. “And she was with hers and as the night went on, she kept talking to me. I felt cool because a girl was actually talking to me so after trying to ignore her all night, we started talking and it just went from there.”
She adds, “He was the one person who wouldn’t talk to me and I was automatically intrigued so I basically talked to him the whole night and little by little, he started to talk more and crack jokes. His sense of humor won me over.”
Many parts of the beginning of their story make me smile. Her persistence in getting him to talk with her and their first date, where he let her pick the movie and she picked the new James Bond movie because she “didn’t want him to think I was one of those girls who only watched chick flicks.”
About about a year of dating, she started staying at his place all the time and unofficially moving in. He says, “She told me she loved me and I had no answer which made her really mad. But I am the kind of guy who knows if things are good from very early on and, even though I was only 20, I knew in a few years, it would be the right time.”
“We had a big fight,” she told me. “I left to go for a drive to cool off and was thinking about breaking up with him. Then I pictured my future without him and I honestly couldn’t. I have always been very wary of commitment and Drew has been my rock. He has pushed me to be my absolute best and really believes in me succeeding in everything I do. Not to mention, he is absolutely my best friend; no one makes me laugh like he does and I can talk to him for hours about absolutely nothing. It was after I really considered all of that, I accepted to myself what I’m pretty sure I have always known: that Drew is the one.”
These two (particularly Drew) are diehard Iowa State fans so I drove over to Ames for their engagement session. We lucked out with the most gorgeous weather that day and started their session at the Jack Trice Stadium, then proceeded to meander Main Street where I’d stop them every few yards because I’d spot something else great! It has been a joy getting to know them and I absolutely could tell from the first few minutes that they meant it when they both said that they love to have fun together.
Marissa’s smile was SO much fun to photograph. It’s so obvious how happy she is with Drew.
Drew proposed while on vacation. Marissa says, “We were taking a motorcycle trip to South Dakota with his parents. The first day we were there Drew was so insistent to go to Mt. Rushmore before the rain, and when we got there he got out this silly, super girly drawstring backpack. I offered to carry it for him (since he always refuses to hold my purse because it’s too girly) and he very quickly said no. (Little did I know it was because the ring didn’t fit in his pocket.)
“He kept saying how excited he was to go to Mt. Rushmore and I didn’t think to much of it because he has always been super patriotic and loves history. We took the scenic walkway to get a better view of it and at a couple different lookouts Drew kept messing with his GoPro, just hanging out trying to get it to work. I kept wondering why he wouldn’t just take a picture on his phone.
“At the last lookout there weren’t any people around and he was fiddling around with his GoPro and finally asked me if I wanted to take a picture with me. I turned around and he was down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was speechless and am pretty sure I only said, ‘Oh my god.’ He stood up and I was so excited I didn’t even let him put the ring on for me (oops). He had his parents take pictures and take a video of the whole thing. It was absolutely perfect, and I wish I could relive the whole day over and over.”
Drew adds that he did, in fact, tell her about 2 years before that he would propose to her at Mt. Rushmore. “Of course she didn’t take me seriously. From that day on, little by little, I started saving up for a ring. I made sure we got to Mt. Rushmore before this summer was over. I didn’t really have a plan once we were there, but I figured it would just come to me. I was searching for a quiet place with a great view, but there were people everywhere. At the very end of this trail, there was a little lookout area that was hidden and walked back there. I was wearing a ridiculous backpack and I had the ring in there so as I took it off for the picture, I got on one knee and popped the question. If I remember right, she could barely talk. She said ‘yes’ following by ‘oh my god’ about 30 times and her and my mom cried. Seeing her that happy was very special and made me even more excited for our future.”
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