Tandy: I first saw Nathan while I was greeting at church. I thought he was SOOOO cute. I did everything I could to be super smiley and make sure he noticed me.
Nathan: I noticed this cute little girl every time I walked by on my way into church who was obviously staring me down. I thought, "hmm... maybe I should get to know her".
Tandy: I pointed Nathan out to several of my friends telling them how cute I thought he was. But of course I did not know his name or anything about him. I even thought he might have a girlfriend because he was always sitting with a girl. At a certain point my friends started threatening me with embarrassment if I didn't go up and introduce myself.
Nathan: It got to the point that I was looking forward to the brief "eye flirt" and smile each service. At one point, though, I realized how awkward it was that we had not even spoken to each other yet. I had to find a way to officially meet her (other than the obvious way of simply walking up to her and introducing myself of course).
Tandy: One day after service I was standing in the Lobby talking to a guy and all of a sudden my "love obsession" walked up to me and introduced himself. He finally had a name... "Nathan"! Oh boy was I excited. And good news... that girl he was always with... that was his younger sister Amanda.
Nathan: One day after service I was standing in the Lobby talking and noticed my "casual eye flirt girlfriend" was talking to some mutual friends. I thought "I better introduce myself because this is getting ridiculous". I asked her name. She responded and I said "Sandy? Candy? How do you spell that? Oh... Tandy" and then thought, "Well that's different".
Tandy: Unfortunately even with my awesome "eye flirting" skills it took awhile to win Nathan over. Specifically it took alot of free coffee during Nightmare and some more obvious come-ons. He was playing hard to get.
Tandy: Unfortunately even with my awesome "eye flirting" skills it took awhile to win Nathan over. Specifically it took alot of free coffee during Nightmare and some more obvious come-ons. He was playing hard to get.
Nathan: Unfortunately after meeting her I realized she was a crazy stalker and had our kids named already. Little did she know she was "in big trouble". But I guess all the free coffee must have worked.
Tandy: After a few inappropriate jokes about his "Lincoln" (inside joke there), Nathan decided I wasn't completely crazy and finally gave in. I think it was love at Taco Bueno.
Nathan: "Did she just say 'Lincoln'?!" Seriously though... after one of my infamous non-dates at Taco Bueno, and finally hearing her heart, I fell in love. (Insert tear)
Tandy: Ok, fast forward several years... I was impatiently waiting for Nathan to announce his undying love for me and propose marriage.
Nathan: After dating for an almost perfectly sublime, gone without a hitch, no hesitations, no fickleness, no arguments, and absolutley wonderful two maybe three years (who's counting?)... I was anxiously working on Tandy's ring.
Tandy: Saturday February 20th we got all dressed up in our new duds (check out the pics - Nathan is hot in his suit) and headed to the Addy Awards with his company. Everything seemed normal and I had no suspicion that it would be the night that changed everything.
Nathan: The ring was finally ready and after a few false starts I had once again rescheduled the perfect proposal. I was going to take her out to wine and dine her on Friday night, get dressed up and go to an awards ceremony downtown on Saturday night, and propose to her at the Mayo Hotel on Sunday night. So Friday night came and went and while we were shopping for Saturday's event I realized I needed to do it that night...Saturday, February 20th (she looked beautiful in her new dress). I frantically called the photographer and made her stake out the Mayo until our arrival. I stashed the ring in my breast pocket and went to pick up Tandy.
Tandy: Nathan picked me up and took me downtown to the event. He was obviously scatter brained given he got lost to a place he drives by everyday. The event went off without a hitch and at some point in the evening Nathan asked if I wanted to walk over to the Mayo later to see the building. I of course was game even though I did think it was a strange request. At the end of the dinner I went to coat check and Nathan disappeared to the restroom. He was gone for a while and when he came back he complained that the dinner made his stomach upset. Again, strange given that it was pretty yummy lemon pepper chicken. But I still had no clue what was coming. We finally left the event and walked to the Mayo in all our finery.
Nathan: I asked the photographer to call me at 7pm to make sure the staircase where I wanted to propose was available. So at 7:30 I got up from the table to "go use the restroom" and check my voicemail to see if we were good to go. She said it was all clear and to call before we walked over. An hour passed and I needed to let her know we were on our way. So with "a seriously upset stomach" I talked to the photographer on the phone in the bathroom and realized we had problems. She said she had almost been kicked out by the event coordinator and she was told that I better not propose that night and disrupt the event that was going on! But that didn't stop me. I told the photographer let's give it an hour and then we would be there. She called back almost immediately and said "it's clear, get your butt over here now if you're going to do this!" About that same time I realized my company was going to the Mayo for an after party. It was on... we were going no matter what.
Tandy: I was so excited to walk around the Mayo Hotel. It's a gorgeous old hotel that has recently been renovated to it's original glory. This was my "if I had all the money in the world... dream wedding location". I immediately wanted to walk upstairs to the mezzanine level. This is when Nathan really started being weird. I started trying to look into rooms but Nathan pulled me away leading me back down the stairs. But then he suddenly stopped on the landing looking out over the Hotel Lobby. He looked at me very nervously and said "I may not be able to give you the Mayo for your reception but I can give you this..." (insert "Ah..." here) I said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING????" as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. I said "Holy cow is that my ring?!?!". It gets a little blurry from here but I'm pretty sure he got on his knee and asked me to marry him and given I'm still wearing the ring... I'm pretty sure I said yes!
Nathan: It was a long walk over from the award banquet to the Mayo as I contemplated how I was going to separate myself from my co-workers, walk her through the Mayo, and make sure I didn't get kicked out in the process. We walked in and the Lobby was empty with only a few employees cleaning up after the event. I kept trying to make conversation on how nice the building was and how cool it would be to have a wedding there, but my communication skills were stifled by what I was about to do. We walked up the stairs to the mezzanine and I wouldn't let her look around because I just wanted to get back down to my predetermined spot on the staircase landing. As we came down the staircase and stopped on the landing, I looked across the Lobby looking for the photographer hoping she hadn't been kicked out. I thought "I hope she's here and gets this 'cause it's now or never". So after a long awkward pause on the staircase landing, I looked at Tandy and said "I may not be able to give you your dream reception here, but I can give you this". I went to pull the ring out of my breast pocket but I couldn't get my coat unbuttoned! As I fumbled for the ring I heard Tandy say "What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?" I pulled out the ring and her eyes lit up and I knew she knew it was for real. I get on one knee and asked her to marry me (the best decision I've ever made) and she said yes! Immediately euphoria took over and I fell in love all over again!
Tandy: You can see in the pictures and video how excited I was. I can't express how lucky I am to be preparing the spend the rest of my life with this awesome man! I'm going to become Mrs. Nathan T. Groves!!!
