Ashley's Story: I'll start out by saying I have some pretty amazing friends. My closest friends know me better than I know myself, they are always there to uplift me, and they truly care about my happiness.

One special friend in particular comes to mind as I share how I met the love of my life. She happens to be my sister...sorority sister of course...Anne Halderaker. In August of 2014, Anne and I moved into the Delta Zeta house together. I remember both of us being so excited to share a room together, and to start the new school year at Texas State! Anne and I were friends for a year beforehand, but you can imagine how much closer we became sharing a room with two bunk beds. We would fall asleep talking about how our days went, the cute boys in our business classes, and how we were raised. The first Saturday after classes began, we went to the Texas State Football Game together. As we were walking through the stadium, this guy came up to Anne to say hi. We spoke briefly, and as soon as we walked away, I said Anne, "Oh my goodness...he was so cute...how do you know him?...I didn't know you talked to guys who wear cowboy boots!! (Anne is from Norway, and hadn't caught on to the "jeans and cowboy boots look")." She explained that he was the one who had been texting her and asking her to hang out. A few weeks later, Anne and I were sitting in the library together studying late one night. Anne told me that the same guy asked her to go hunting with him. She responded back saying that she would HATE to go hunting...meanwhile, I'm thinking how fun that would be! He then responded with "okay, well what do you like to do then?" At this point we were delerious, so I grabbed Anne's phone and responded jokingly with something along the lines of..."I like drivin down dirt roads in a jacked up Ford pickup, blaring George Strait, shootin skeet, chasing cotoyes, driving my grandaddy's tractor." He quickly responded with, "Marry Me!" Anne and I were cracking up trying to stay quiet in the library. She ended up explaining to him that he and her friend (me) would get along a lot better than the two of them would. She passed my name and number to him, and BRANDON texted me! We texted eachother for a couple weeks and got to know eachother a little bit, and then he asked me on our first date! The rest is history!

Brandon's Story:

I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I met Ashley during my first senior year in college. One day I was scrolling through my phone, and decided to text a girl by the name of Anne. She was a resident of mine when I was a Resident Assistant at College Inn. She always seemed down-to-earth, so I thought I might want to get to know her a little better. After I texted her for a couple weeks I soon began to realize that she was not the one for me. I knew we would soon part ways after I asked her to go hunting and she turned me down. After getting to know her a little bit, and realizing she didn't like to do anything fun (go hunting). I said well what do you like to do for fun? I believe at that point she saw I was better off with one of her friends. She handed the phone over to her friend, and I received a text message that said, “ I like to go down back roads listening to George Strait. Shoot coyotes out the truck. Driving my grandad’s tractor…..” I quickly responded, “Marry Me”! That was the day I fell in love with Ashley. I quickly went to go look her up on Facebook and Instagram. I had already fallen in love with her before laying eyes on her. Then, once I saw her I about fainted, and knew I just hit the jackpot.

I soon then gained the courage to ask her out on a date. Little did I know she just said yes for a free dinner, but little did she know it was the start to our love story. The date went very well even after being bombared by all her sorority sisters when I picked her up. The dates continued and my true love for Ashley began to unfold. A couple months of dating past and I knew it was time to seal the deal. I set up a bunch of cards starting outside my apartment explaining why she is so special to me. The cards lead her to my room where I held a rose and asked her to be my girlfriend. Gladly she said yes, and it has been history ever since.

September 25th, 2014: Our first date at Cody's Bistro

December 11th, 2014: Brandon asked Ashley to be his girlfriend

January 24th, 2015: The day we said "I love you" and also Ashley's birthday

May 12th, 2016: We graduated from Texas State. Eat em' up!

September 22nd, 2017: Brandon proposed!

December 8th, 2018: Our Wedding Day!