WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

This site has all the information you need to come and celebrate with us on August 2, 2025, in Omaha, NE.

How We Met (Her Version)

By Rachel

I met Kaleb for the first time in our Introduction to Abstract Math class at UNO in the fall semester of 2018. We didn't speak much through the beginning half of the semester, but we were eventually placed in the same small group for class (thanks Dr. Matache) and that is where we started to converse more regularly. And by regularly, I mean during class and in passing. :) I remember always having to switch how I was sitting in my chair and accidentally kicking him under the table and feeling so bad because I was probably the most annoying person ever. 

Eventually, near the end of the semester, a group of us were discussing our next semester's courses. I mentioned that I was not planning to take the Introduction to Analysis course until a later semester. Kaleb convinced me to take it the next semester so I wouldn't 'have to take it alone and not know anybody.' That sounded very reasonable to me so I switched around some courses and we ended up being in the same class again. This time we got to pick our seats and I remember being so giddy because Kaleb decided to sit in the seat behind me. This is where we really started getting to know one another, and where I started to develop the biggest crush known to man. I remember being so excited to go to class early because I knew he would be there and as the semester progressed I desperately hoped he would ask me out (I was too chicken to make the first move).  

The last day of class was quickly approaching and I was so nervous that this would be the last time I would see this boy - and I didn't even get his number! Until one of our mutual friends asked about forming a communal study group for our future math classes. SCORE! I obtained his number without having to ask him directly. AND the icing on the cake was that after the final exam - HE APPROACHED ME and asked me out on a coffee date! Wow! I was so excited and I literally felt like I was dreaming. I remember immediately calling my mom on the way home from class and just gushing 'he asked me out!!' 

Fast-forward to July 2019 and we officially started dating after a romantic night out to Shakespeare on the Green. Instead of just being passing strangers in a college math course, something beautiful bloomed between two people - that just so happened to be in the same class at the same time. It's even more of a crazy probability problem considering I transferred universities and we met during the first semester I started at UNO! Now it's been 5 whole years since that day and I still feel so lucky that I get to have Kaleb in my life, and as my forever partner.

The Proposal

By Kaleb

The idea of proposing to Rachel, something I had known I would do since the second year of our relationship, went from abstract to real in my mind during the fall of 2023. We had both agreed that engagement was not something our wallets or mental health could entertain while still in graduate school, but by the end of that summer, we had both made it across the Baxter Arena commencement stage in one piece. What cemented the idea of proposing even more in my head was the simple fact that after I had finished school, we moved together almost twelve hundred miles to Washington, DC (or Arlington, Virginia, for the geographically pedantic), and as a part of our move, we signed a document only slightly less binding than a marriage license, an East Coast apartment lease. After a few months of living in our new home, I knew that now was the time for us to move on to the next stage of our relationship. Indeed, it was time for me to address my haters, I mean my lovely, caring family members who only had questions—and propose. But where to do it?

This question occupied me for quite a long time. The National Mall? No, too many middle schoolers. Perhaps Dupont Circle? Too many rats. Metro Center? Now that's an idea I would love, but perhaps Rachel would not. Then it came to me. Just before Rachel and I started our relationship, I had traveled on a month-long "study" abroad trip through southern Europe. I had loved my time there, and the two of us had been dreaming of traveling back ever since. Circumstances (Covid-19, the poor finances of two graduate students, etc.) had prevented us from acting on that dream in the years we had been dating, but I found a great deal on flights to France over our five-year anniversary in July of 2024. The destination was set. 

But of course, the destination was not set. France is a big country, much bigger than Washington, DC. If I believed my location dilemma was solved, I was mistaken. After much research, we settled on a two-week itinerary starting on the southern Mediterranean coast in the city of Nice. After five nights, we would travel to wine country away from the coast to the Provence region. Lastly, we would zoom up to Paris, where I would spend a week futilely attempting to convince the authorities to allow me to represent a country, any country, at the Olympic Games. With our hotels booked, I needed to, in secret, decide where along the route I would propose. I realized, despite what the movies suggested would be the best spot, namely Paris, my nerves would not last that long. Besides, while it is undeniably a beautiful city, it has even more rats than Dupont Circle. Instead, I would propose in Nice. I hired a photographer for our last night, but had known all along that Rachel would probably not appreciate being photographed during the moment itself, so I had to make sure to propose on our second, third or fourth day in the city (nobody wants to be involved in a proposal after a trans-Atlantic flight).

I decided I would do it on the third day. We were due to visit a lovely port town called Cap Ferrat, which had a lovely coastal walking path. We could have a nice picnic lunch along the coast, and that evening I had reservations at the nicest place we would eat during the whole trip. My plan did not start well at all. The day started with a forty-five-minute,  crush-load bus ride to Cap Ferrat, where, when we attempted to purchase sandwiches, we were met with perhaps the single rudest Frenchwoman in all the Côte d'Azur. After we were reduced to pointing and counting on our fingers to order our sandwiches, Rachel was not in the mood for any nonsense from me. So, I let the moment pass, and we had our celebratory dinner with her being unaware of its purpose. Oops.

So, the next day would be my last chance before our engagement photos. The pressure was on. I decided on a different coastal path, much closer to Nice, where we could walk around during the evening. Instead of Lobster Linguine, we would have to settle for flatbread sandwiches and a bottle of wine. We found a nice (heh) place to sit and eat, but before I could do it, a group of local kids decided to sit right next to us with their boombox (who even has one of those anymore). After some time, I suggested we go around the corner, where we had to wait even longer for beach goers walking back to the city to pass us by. After what seemed like an eternity, and with my hands shaking as badly as they ever had, I knew it was now or never. I got down on one knee (reenactment below), and to my great shock, she had no idea it was coming. My lame excuses about the tickets being cheap and some misdirection from her friends had kept my surprise a secret. It was, no doubt, the happiest moment of my life so far, and I'm still not totally sure how I managed to keep it a surprise. 

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