Our story – written by Drew, reviewed and approved by Jackie

When people ask how we met, the short answer normally given is “We used to work together, Jackie then left GM, and a couple years later slid into my DM’s”. But, since everyone reading this has a vested interest in this story, I will give you some additional details.

To start things off, both Jackie and I began our careers as interns at General Motors, although two years apart. In 2015, I was a couple months into my full-time job at GM when one of my friends and future groomsman, Alex Hessler, recruited Jackie from UofM’s business school for an internship. While neither of us remember the exact GM event, our first interaction was during the Summer of 2016. Our paths would continue to overlap many times over the next 7 years.

The first actual memory we have of one another is not in person but on the other side of a conference call. Jackie was in Operations and I was in the Command Center. There were many different cases we worked on together and Jackie quickly became one of my favorite Ops Coordinators. I am still waiting to find out if I was her favorite Command Center Coordinator…

Ultimately, Jackie decided to leave GM in 2021 to work for a startup and I figured that would be the last time I would see or hear from her.

Fast forward two years to April 2023, I get a message (on Hinge) from Jackie, “How’s it going? Are you still chasing semiconductors?”. We messaged back and forth which led us to grabbing a drink after work at Dragons Landing. We both showed up thinking it was not a date but we proceeded to close down the bar and I left knowing this was different. I later found out Jackie felt the same way when she sent a text that night to her oldest friend and future bridesmaid, Courtney Bordeaux, “I went on a date tonight and I might be in love. Not actually but lol maybe”.

We went on our actual “first date” at another bar in St Clair Shores where we continued the trend of staying until it closed. The following week, I took Jackie for a boat ride on Lake St Clair and by the end of the night, we had already planned the next date two days later. This confirmed everything I had been thinking, she was different.

Not long after our one year anniversary I asked Jackie to go ring shopping. And a few months later, during the first weekend in October, we were on our final boat ride of 2024. It was 65 and sunny on Lake St Clair. After cruising to Metro Beach (where my brother was waiting onshore with a camera), I convinced Jackie we needed to anchor. As we were sitting there, I started to share my favorite memories of us, including our first boat ride on the third date. Then, on the lake where we have made so many memories, I asked Jackie to marry me.

As most do, we considered several different wedding venues. Ultimately, we couldn’t turn down the chance to celebrate starting our life together anywhere else but on a boat in Lake St Clair. We cannot wait to host our family & friends on our best boat ride yet!

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