Jake and Emilie both attended the University of Nebraska - Lincoln where they met each other through their best friends Kelsey and Spencer. Though this was not a love at first sight story - unless you count Emilie's love for Jake's hedgehog, Albert Einspine, which inspired her to adopt her own hedgehog, Kevin. In fact, for the first few years they knew each other, they pretty much only made small talk about hedgehogs.
After college, Jake moved back home to Des Moines, and Emilie moved there to attend medical school at Des Moines University. Their conversations moved from small talk about hedgehogs to small talk about Des Moines, and eventually Jake invited Emilie to go to the Iowa State Fair, although neither of them were quite sure if it was a date. Spoiler alert: it was a date.
Somewhere between their love of objectively bad movies, Nicholas Cage, and cats, Jake and Emilie realized they were meant to be. It may seem a bit narcissistic to fall in love with someone so similar to yourself, but they really couldn't help it.
Jake knows that Emilie loves chocolate chip pancakes and eating in bed, so on March 25, 2018, he got up early to make her breakfast and get everything ready. He brought her a tray with chocolate chip pancakes and the ring, but Emilie is not a morning person and didn't realize what was going on, though she did immediately start tearing up over being given pancakes in bed. When Jake got on one knee, Emilie thought he was bending down to pick up one of their cats to give to her. She finally caught on to what was happening and said "ARE YOU JOKING ME RIGHT NOW" followed by several yeses. Jake had never made pancakes before and warned Emilie that they were probably too burned to eat, but she choked them down anyway. Don't worry, Jake has drastically improved his pancake-making skills since.
So much has happened in the time since we got engaged. Jake has been diligently studying for his CFA exams and accepted a job as an investment analyst at Gilbert & Cook. Emilie will be graduating from medical school six days after the wedding. We are so thankful for all of the support from friends and family over the past few years, and we can't wait to celebrate with you all at our wedding!