Kallen and Wake’s story, composed by Wake

Mine and Kallen’s story, as many of you know, started a long time ago. Just how long ago, however, is likely much longer than you may have realized. Our story began way back in 2005 when we both met on our local coed T-ball team. Kallen would find out she was good at the sport and go on to play softball. I would realize I was- let’s just say- better suited for a different sport.

While the T-ball season ended, it would be only a couple years later when we found ourselves both at St. Andrew’s for kindergarten. Lower school me was more concerned with my friend Harrison (a groomsman) and his hit comic series “Duoms” than to remember much of anything else. Kallen was preoccupied with the smash hit animated barbie movies, I’m sure.

Middle school rolled around and that is where their story began in earnest. For context, we both began middle school looking like a couple of studs (didn’t we all?). Here are some pictures to prove it.

Wake and Kallen circa 2013/14.

Needless to say, when all of our friends went out, Kallen and I were often put in awkward situations together. We knew of each other, but never actually spoke or hung out. Kallen recalls that there was one time the two of us were fifth and sixth wheeling four of our collective friends who were “dating” each other at the time (as much as you can be “dating” someone in sixth grade). As she and I tailed behind, one of her friends turned around and mockingly said “you two should date!!” Kallen says she remembers rolling her eyes and scolding her friend for that remark later that day. She was not into me like that, and we didn’t know each other at all. I’m sure I probably tried to hide a blush, having no idea what to say at the moment. I was neither a very emotionally mature nor a very eloquent 6th grader.

I did have one other run in with her in early middle school. I was in a math class with Kallen, this class was the first time I had developed a really big crush on her. I had told one of my friends about it, mentioning how she always laughed at my jokes. He took about 3 seconds before looking me in the eyes and harshly delivering the line “Dude. She laughs at everyone’s jokes.” Which was true – that is the kind of person she is. But it was a nice dream for a few moments at least.

Wake third from back left, Kallen front and center (can you tell she’s a Leo?).

As time went on, Kallen and I ended up falling into a new friend group together. I had become wrapped up in a hilarious, pre-pubescent love triangle with two of Kallen’s best friends. Remember me mentioning that we were studs? Well, Kallen became a bit of a wingman for me, giving me expert relationship advice. The “love triangle” adventure lasted under 14 days. Total. What it did result in, however, was the beginning of an incredible friendship.

This group formed around early 8th grade and ever since then Kallen and I have been inseparable. Be it moments at the Renaissance goofing around, enjoying Latin Day at Arts on the Green, or becoming best friends by middle school Olympics, it was becoming clear this friendship was going to last. By this time too, it was becoming clear that I loved her.

Kallen and Wake at Ulta

Kallen and Wake at Arts on the Green and Olympics

As 8th grade came to a close and 9th grade began, I knew our friendship would be something more. We started off the year still debating if trying to date was worth risking our incredible friendship. Homecoming rolled around and Kallen made homecoming court. She gave me the honor of being her escort and I asked her to our first official dance in return.

Wake and Kallen doing some Freshman homecoming festivities

We ended up starting to date in late September, but didn’t tell anyone until October 11th, the decided official date for our anniversary thereafter.

Kallen and Wake’s junior homecoming and prom

Kallen and I went through high school pushing each other to excel, supporting each other when we fell, learning hard lessons, and making as many incredible memories as possible. We began to get to know each other’s parents, and found that we loved them, too. We began senior year excited for our futures, knowing we wanted to be together but unsure if we would find our paths converging. Little did we know what was in store.

Kallen and Wake from freshman to senior homecoming and party

So here it comes. The pandemic. Kallen and I had already relied on each other in many ways, but as the pandemic started tearing the world apart and bringing a very abrupt end to a highly anticipated end to high school, I would argue we relied on each other then more than ever. We spent most of the pandemic together fishing, boating, and trying to keep sane. We called the back and forth between my own family home and that of the Mitchell’s our “COVID bubble,” only ever hanging out with each other's families and really no one else. I bought us some painting kits, took up photography for a brief stint, and we won the “cutest couple” superlative for senior year.

Kallen and Wake thinking they were eating

Ultimately, time for college rolled around and we were, luckily, off to Ole Miss together. I will forever be grateful that things worked out so well for us.

The polaroid picture Wake keeps in his wallet at all times

Eventually, as the vaccine was released and the virus more understood, classes resumed as normal and restrictions relaxed. Date parties, events, and more were starting up and college began to feel like – well – college. The fun was on for us.

Beginning of Sophomore year

Sophomore year, I moved into the fraternity house with one of my groomsmen, while Kallen moved into Hooper Hollow where the sophomore Tri Deltas lived. In the bottom right picture above, you can see Kallen’s three roommates and their unexpected bonus mate, me. The hooper girls loved my company, I swear (except for Abby because I stole all her Diet Cokes. But she came around, I think).

Junior year arrived in a flash as Sophomore year blew by. Kallen and I both moved with roommates to the Uncommon, which was only a 5-minute walk from the square and from campus. We certainly got up to some shenanigans. Oh, and a new addition to the family arrived, our cat Gio. Kallen acquired him on a whim one day from a university math professor.

Pre-date party at the Uncommon and a new addition to the family

Junior year also, however, meant it was time for me to fulfill my semester abroad requirement for my international studies degree. Incorrectly, I thought it wise to go to Colombia alone, since it was the most related to my thesis. Ask me about the ten million things that went wrong while I was there. But needless to say Kallen helped me keep my sanity while thousands of miles away, proving to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were meant to be together.

Wake in Bogotá, Colombia

Kallen, for her own part, had a 6 week study abroad internship in Sorrento, Italy. Ask her how it went and she will tell you about the ten million things that went right.

Kallen absolutely killing it in Sorrento, Italy

Somehow, we managed to survive Junior year (well, mostly. I barely survived), but senior year had arrived, and it was time to enjoy every second before it was gone. And enjoy every second we did.

Kallen and Wake at an all-time great date party

December 8th, 2023 will be a day forever engraved into my memory. Kallen and I were sitting at our favorite restaurant in Oxford, Ajax, hungover after a night out at their favorite bar in Oxford. I saw a call from NYU Langone show up on my phone. I yelled a few choice words, knowing what was happening, before I had to lock in and pick up the phone: I had been admitted to New York University medical school. Senior year became a whirlwind after that. Kallen and I went to NYC to visit, we went to our first official Mardi Gras in New Orleans with my parents, and Kallen was admitted to NYU as well for her masters in Museum Studies after falling in love with the city.

Kallen visits NYC for the first time and they experience their first Mardi Gras

Spring rolls around. Of course, how could one forget our engagement. I was stressed for months because I couldn’t settle on a ring. Kallen’s taste is so excellent, of course, that it was hard to find a ring worthy of such refined craftsmanship. Eventually, I managed to find the perfect one (with a push to “just buy it!” from one of Kallen’s lovely bridesmaids) and began planning. Little did Kallen know, or too little faith did she have in both her friends and me, at keeping a good secret.

Here is the story. I had originally planned to propose on top of the first bar Kallen and I had gone to when we first traveled to Oxford together for Junior Preview day, which was the Coup. The problem was- I could control secrets, I could keep things under wraps, I could plan a good party. What I could not do, however, was control the weather (to my own dismay). It was disgusting outside. Our friend Xenia (who is also a wonderful professional photographer) and I were debating moving the proposal to the covered balcony of Boure, but it looked like the weather was going to clear. As a result, we moved it back to the original outdoor bar. The weather, however, had other plans.

The game plan was as follows: I convinced Kallen that all of her friends were going out of town and the two of them were going to get dinner with his parents that night. Kallen’s friends did a spectacular job of selling that they were gone, going as far as to make up entire elaborate stories to make it seem like it was impossible they were in Oxford. Nice. Ask Abby about that. I had previously set up a groupchat with ~70 people and would always send warning messages to tell people to hide their phones before sending any details and swore everyone to absolute secrecy. Check. Kallen’s parents and my parents worked to gather old pictures, get custom napkins and more for the party. The day of the proposal, they all snuck up to Oxford together. Perfect. Everything was perfectly set, and 70 people awaited Kallen and I’s arrival.

Remember now the weather. Kallen did not wait nearly 8 years to be proposed to in the near rain and gloomy skies to only then go to dinner with no friends and no family in town. And I knew that, but she didn’t seem to know that I knew that. Kallen and I sat inside the indoor area of the bar for nearly fifteen minutes while I struggled to convince Kallen to go outside. I tried classic lines such as “wow… I mean it looks kind of nice out there, right?” and “I don’t know, aren’t you kind of hot in here? We should go on the balcony” Needless to say, Kallen wasn’t born yesterday so she wasn’t buying it. She told me later that she had spent an hour doing her hair and thought I would be proposing at dinner, so she did not want the humidity to mess it up before then. She was wrong, though. Eventually I got her outside just as Xenia was peeking out her head to see what was going on. Kallen, apparently forgetting that Xenia is also a photographer, exclaimed “Xenia! What are you doing here?!” before realizing what was happening. It was a lovely moment, despite the prelude: I had finally done it.

Wake finally does it

We took pictures, but (again) the weather was terrible, so we were not out there for long. I’m sure I seemed like I was just stricken by an 8th grade level of nervousness and hesitation, and I’m sure Kallen was thinking I was an idiot. She was, let’s say, underwhelmed. Justifiably so, as I had convinced her all her friends and family were gone and no one was here to celebrate her. She probably thought I had lost my mind. Arriving at my parents’ house in Oxford, she was a bit obstinate, but eventually walked up to the front door. She stopped once more at the doorstep, looked at me and said “I don’t know if I can just go get dinner with your parents right now,” but I convinced her to take one more step inside.

Pandemonium. Probably the best word to describe it. Champagne rained down like the water drops outside the front porch, Smirnoff Ices appeared in the most unlikely of places (to my dismay), and dozens of friends and family swarmed as Kallen broke down in awe. After the initial shock she turned to me saying something along the lines of “I thought everyone was gone! I was so pissed at you!.” Turns out after 8 years, you know what a girl would want in a proposal.

After that glorious night of far too many drinks and good memories passed, senior year went by at a blistering pace. Kallen and I both finished off their year with standout performances, both owning the top grades and awards across our departments.

Kallen and Wake at Honors Graduation

Eventually, Senior year came to a complete end. Many tears were shed (by all) as we both had our final purple Gatorade shots at the Library, fried okras at Ajax, and good memories in Oxford as undergraduates. We said our goodbyes, packed our boxes, and Oxford then became a cherished memory rather than our reality.

Our new reality, however, was just around the corner. New York City awaited us, and after spending time with our families and enjoying some beach sun over the early summer, we took off for NYC on July 2nd.

Kallen and Wake’s first dinner out in NYC and first Yankees game (go Yankees)

We settled into our respective programs and began experiencing life completely together. Luckily for us, the last 8 years had not been a fluke, and we have made the most of every moment by exploring, going out, eating new things, doing yoga, and supporting each other every step of the way.

Kallen and Wake experience their first adult formal and snow day

My apologies for the length of “Our Story,” but I could talk about her for hours. Believe it or not, this was edited down. And, to that point, our story is a particularly long one, and despite us being young, this wedding has been a long time coming. We both realize that if it were not for the support of their friends, families, teachers, mentors, and more, we would never have gotten to where they are now. However, we also know that as long as we have each other, things will always work out.

Written in honor of Kallen, you are the best thing to ever happen to me and I cherish you every day.