Andy: I’m not sure I was the first guy she asked about…maybe just the first single guy. It’s tough to complain about getting a number without trying very hard. I remember seeing Abby before the game and she was wearing this candy cane looking shirt (red and white striped) and looked absolutely amazing. It was a no brainer for me to call her the next day.

Abby: We started dating in June (2004) and spent the entire summer together, me driving to Ames to visit him whenever I could. I went off to college without any serious expectations of us staying together, but we just kept seeing each other—weekend after weekend. He drove to Iowa City nearly every weekend to spend time with me, and we grew together: tailgating every Saturday for the Hawkeye football games, attendingsorority formals, dressing up for themed parties, and eating too many Pancheros’ quesadillas with our friends before making our way home for the night. The two-hour drive separating us proved to be okay; it gave me time to focus on my studies during the week, and it gave me a wonderful reward for the weekend.

Andy: It was hard being way from her for the entire week, but I think it was definitely good for her studies that she didn’t have that distraction during the week. Thank you Lord for unlimited cell phone minutes! We went though some tough times due to the distance, but I think it only made our relationship grow stronger because we had to work hard at it, and we knew deep down that we would eventually be saying “I do” to one another.

Also see About the Bride and About the Groom.