In the words of James C. Dobson, "Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without." Lancers all over campus are making the commitment and taking the next step in their lives. Eleven of them sat down to share their story with The Rotunda and talk about how they met, how they got engaged and what comes next in their life.
Marissa Del Priore was in D-Hall with some friends when Dimitri Kabir walked in. Apparently she was in "his seat." She explained that when they made eye contact, they had a moment. "They say you know its love when it happens in slow motion. That was slow motion," explained Del Priore.
Kabir proposed at sunrise over breakfast on the beach. Del Priore explained that as they were walking up, there was a big boardwalk hill. "We were going up the hill he started saying, 'Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.' I found out later that was the point where he forget what we was going to say because he stayed up all night trying to figure out what to say," explained Del Priore
Carlisle Parker knew she wanted to marry Ethan Davidhizar about a year into their relationship. They were down at the fishing pier and a little girl ran up to Davidhizar and told him to play with her. He didn't think twice about it and gladly stepped in to push her on the swings and help her on the monkey bars. "I saw how good he was with her and I was like, 'Oh, this could work out,'" Parker explained. Parker said a couple weeks before the engagement, she had gone on a rant about the word "girlfriend." She didn't like it because she felt like she was more than a girlfriend but less than a fiancée.
On the day of Parker and Davidhizar's engagement, after a long day of visiting the zoo and a museum, Davidhizar took her back to the fishing pier. He told her she was the best girlfriend in the world, and made a comment about how he was surprised she wasn't fussing at the word. He then stepped back and said, "You won't have to wait anymore because I'm changing it today" and proposed.
Ian Simpkins and Courtney Carroll live in the mountains. He took her to an overlook in a valley to look at the snow. He gave her a present and then proposed. "I didn't know how it could be more perfect. I couldn't imagine him doing it any other way," said Carroll.
Carroll and Simpkins broke up several times but always managed to find each other again. "We had that connection and we were always drawn to one another," Carroll explained.
Liz Chassey had been unknowingly foiling James Early's plan all day. Chassey was a Resident Assistant (RA) in ARC Residence Hall and had a lot of memories at ARC fountain. Early wanted to add the memory of him proposing to her at the fountain as well.
To get Chassey to come out of her building, he suggested they go to Lankford Student Union. She wanted to see the progress of the World Re¬cord Attempt to make the biggest paper-mache ball. RAs hosted the event and Chassey and Early got roped into helping. "The day I am supposed to propose to my fiancée, I'm holding a paper-mache ball in the air while we shove newspapers underneath," said Early. Early explained that he originally started talking to Chassey because he wanted to go out with her. The first time he saw her, he said, "Oh, I really like this girl." The second time he knew he loved her and the third time he knew he wanted to marry her. "It wasn't, Do you want to go out and see where this goes?' It was, 'I am ready when you are,'" explained Early. Chassey added that he gave her a promise ring about a year into the relationship. Early also wore a promise ring, and reappropriated it to his engagement ring afterwards.
When they finally make it back to fountain, Early suggested they spend some time by the fountain. He pulled the "I need to tie my shoe" move and bent down to update his Facebook status to mark the exact moment he proposed to Chassey. He turned up towards her, and she was still looking at the fountain. Chassey said she only looked down when she realized it was taking him a long time to tie his shoe. Early said he took the simple route and said, "I have question for you - will you marry me?"
Adam Teachey wanted Colleen O'Toole to be caught off guard, so he told her he wanted to go on a day trip and told her to pick five places. One of the places she picked, Carrs Mountain, was the same place he had wanted to go to. The ring box was large, so Teachey put the ring in the soft case of his sunglasses. Teachey and O'Toole spent the first part of the trip picking apples. "I didn't think far enough ahead that I couldn't put my hand down in a tubular soft case to get the ring, so I kind of tried to ditch her for a minute and tried to dig it out," explained Teachey. Once he got the ring free, he proposed in the apple orchard.
Cabot Armentrout bought a house over the summer. The day he closed, he and Laura Reese ate dinner there. The only things they had were a coffee table and two foldable lawn chairs. He offered her a housewarming gift and told her to close her eyes and hold out her hands. She could hear him rummaging around in a kitchen drawer, but she didn't know why be¬cause they did not have anything yet. She said she then heard him in front of her and heard the box click open.
Reese said she should have known it was coming because Armentrout ran a mysterious errand before then went to the house that day. She said that they had always talked about getting engaged but wanted to be stable before they did so. Armentrout already had a job, so when he bought the house, everything fell into place.
Matt Nolte had been planning a surprise party for Mallory Pendleton at his apartment. He proposed separately on the South Ruffner staircase and they had some photos taken, and then they revealed the engagement at the surprise party.
Andrea Miller said she had an inkling Andrew McCullagh was going to propose. They were eating at Charley's on the balcony with all the lights, and he was acting a little nervous. "It was cute how antsy he was," said Miller. When he popped the question, she started crying instantly.
"He took forever to ask me out in high school and my mom told me the best life are the ones worth waiting for ... so I just kept waiting," ex¬plained Carrie Mowery. Ben Morton took Mowrey to Charley's for lunch and took her for a walk by the creek that runs near Charley's afterwards.
Alex Brown proposed to Jena Webster at swim practice. She said she realized what was happening when she got there because all of her friends were there and he told one to bring a camera. The friend didn't know why at first and she asked Webster why Brown told her to bring one.
"He was so nervous when he proposed, he get down on one knee then said "Oops ... wrong leg," even though there isn't a 'right' leg," said Ashley Harris. Nicholas Joyce and Harris were visiting Disney World, and Joyce proposed to Harris by the wishing well in Magic Kingdom. Harris said she just sh
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