Their first date was about a week after they met online. He asked if he could take her to dinner in Iowa City (about 45 minutes from where she lived at the time). “I happily accepted and told him I would meet him at the truck stop that was right by the highway he would be coming in from,” Tabbi recalled. “I didn’t realize at the time how funny it was to meet at a truck stop—it felt safe to me—but has now become a joke with his family. After I met him and jumped in his truck, I told him how much I loved Iowa City because I had attended college there in the late 90’s. He turned and replied that he had too. Nice…a fellow Hawkeye fan. He was very quiet so I filled the truck with conversation about my time at the University and places I spent time and people I became friends with. He just kept nodding and agreeing with all the same places and people. Weird, right?

“Dinner went great. Good conversation, great food, hilarious drink towers that gave us headaches the next day. Anyway…on the way home, I revisited the college conversation because I was so curious how we had so many of the same friends back then. All of the sudden when he turned to me, perhaps the first time he made eye contact with me all night, and I recognized him. I FREAKING RECOGNIZED HIM! I added 25 years on him, a few adorable wrinkles, and some devastatingly handsome gray hairs on his temples and I realized I had known him in college. We hadn’t been close friends, but we went to many of the same parties with each other. It was like the universe had put us back together again.”

They took their time with their relationship. She wanted to be friends first and see how it progressed. There wasn’t a moment they remember knowing, but Tabbi said, “It was a million things that I put together like bricks to build a beautiful foundation. It has been one of the solid things I’ve created in my life.”

Matt proposed earlier this year when they were on vacation in Hawaii. “Someone had asked me if he would propose, but I didn’t really think so because he hadn’t brought up rings or getting engaged. Their comment did get me thinking though because he had made reservations for the first night there at a really nice, romantic restaurant and told me to pack something special for that night. Well, the dinner went great and the two other couples seated by us got engaged but no ring for me. Lol. I figured that it probably wasn’t going to happen on the trip because that would have been the obvious time to do it. I was fine with it and pushed the thought of an engagement right out of my head. I was having the time of my life and didn’t think about it again.

“Towards the end of the trip we popped into the most adorable low key restaurant and had the greatest meal and most delicious drinks. We sat under the cafe lights and just talked about what a great time we were having and how happy in life we had become. After we closed down the cafe, we headed back to our condo and slipped on sweatpants and t-shirts and went to the deck to look at the stars. It was so beautiful and I was so happy. I kissed him and he finally tried to break away from me to say something, but I wasn’t catching on and kept interrupting him when he laughed and said, ‘Tabbi, I’m trying to ask you something.’ I said, ‘What? What is it?’ Then I realized he was down on his knee and had pulled out the largest, most beautiful diamond ring I had ever laid eyes on. That shut me up. It was the most surprised I think I’ve ever been. I went to sleep that night in complete elation.”

She wasn’t lying about that ring!!

Tabbi and Matt are so beautiful together and they were so natural in front of the camera. I am thrilled to join them on their wedding day and get to take even more photos as we celebrate!