Will and McNeal met on bid day at UGA, the first day of freshman year, on the front porch of the Sig Ep house. McNeal had cat ears and whiskers drawn on her face, and Will was wearing a “Back-to-Back World War Champs” tank top. A few months later, Will blind-asked McNeal to mountain weekend. His friends knew her friends, and her friends knew his friends, and for the rest of the year they all hung out together. Will and McNeal became good friends, though their friends thought they should be more than that.

Then came sophomore year. All those friends were supposed to get together after the summer and catch up. Will showed up. McNeal showed up. Everybody else bailed. So, Will and McNeal hung out together. A few weeks later, McNeal asked Will to Theta My Tie date night. A few weeks after that, Will asked her out on their first real date. Ted’s Most Best. The next semester, after Covid hit, they started dating.

And they never stopped. They celebrated a Dawgs national championship together in the streets of Athens. They ate a “Pulp Fiction” themed dinner a school bus. McNeal introduced Will to sushi and brought bottles of wine from Europe so they could cook meals to match. Will showed McNeal around Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. They explored bigger cities too, including Atlanta, Charleston, Chicago, Milwaukee and NYC. And now Newport Beach, California.

Will planned to ask McNeal to marry him on a Saturday in a garden down the street from her house in Athens, but a blizzard was on the way so he did it on Friday.

She said yes. Here we are.