Found: True love at WSU

For two Wright State students, marriage was something they were meant to do together, and since before the engagement they've taken every effort to do it right.

Senior Heather Reeder, a mass communication major, and junior Andy Erickson, an electrical engineering major, first met on campus through Chi Alpha Ministries.

They will get married after Reeder's graduation this summer, on Andy's birthday, Aug. 5.

"I had been praying about this. I really want to marry him. I know this is what the Lord is setting us up for because we don't date. If we're going to go into something, we know we're going towards marriage. It's just figuring out if it's the Lord's will or not," said Reeder.

Their relationship began early last summer, when Erickson asked Reeder if he could pursue her. They rarely saw each other because of work and conflicting schedules.

Toward the end of summer, circumstances made them guests to two weddings in one weekend. This led to marriage talk, even discussing how they'd support themselves.

Two weeks later, after asking her parents, Erickson proposed. "So we start driving out of town, of Yellow Springs, and he pulls into this farm and there's a huge field of sunflowers. As we're walking down this row, I see these beautiful cards tied on to sunflowers with blue ribbon and blue's my favorite color, and he said, 'untie it,'" said Reeder.

"I open up this very nice cream colored stationary and there are cards inside in his handwriting, and this goes on for a while, there's like six or seven of them, and every other one that I open is a memory of us and like something we've done together, either something in ministry or something funny that happened over the summer and then every other one is scripture, something that the Lord has shown us."

"Then we get going and then there's no more for a little while. We walk a few more steps and I see one tied on with a red ribbon. I open it and it's blank and I turn and I look at him and he's like, 'okay, can you close your eyes again?'" said Reeder. "I close my eyes and in the meantime, he does his thing and when I open my eyes, he's down on one knee. He said he would never tell me that he loved me unless he meant it and he goes, 'Heather Reeder, I love you, will you marry me?'"

That was October and now the wedding preparations are well underway. With her mom's help in planning, the future bride decided to have the ceremony outside at Bonham's Grove. Creatif Catering will serve.

"The best part is sharing it with him because he gets into it too. He doesn't care what we do, but he loves to talk about it, he loves to look through magazines with me," said Reeder. "I love it when he's got cool ideas about how he wants to do invitations or how he'd like to decorate. It's important to him, and I like that," said Reeder.

Erickson's mom, a horticulturalist, will help Heather plant the flowers she wants, come spring. Friends of Reeder's mom are making her dress and the cake, and a friend from high school is taking care of pictures.

The couple also saved money by going to a bridal expo where by reserving tuxedos, Erickson got his free and the groomsmen's at a discount. Heather mixed and matched separates for bridesmaids' dresses on David's Bridal website. The night before the big day, the girls will decorate their feet with henna. "I just want it to be as down to earth and 'nature-y' as possible. The bridesmaids and I won't be wearing shoes," she said.

Fellow students Senior Beth Thorn, an English major, and Junior Dan Sundersingh, an electrical engineering major, are a bridesmaid and the best man. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson's honeymoon will be in Europe, flying in to London and then briefly visiting Rome.