Lesley and Matthew Luymes Engagement Announcement

Lesley Petersen, daughter of Bruce and Emmie Petersen of Springfield, IL, has become engaged to Matthew Luymes, son of Kirk and Lynda Luymes of Wessington Springs, SD.

Saturday, October 8th 2016

Proposal

We head out to Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois to walk around and enjoy some food and people watching. As we were about to leave Matthew asks Lesley if they could get a caricature done since he had never had one done before. Lesley thought it was kind of an odd thing for Matthew to ask since he wasn’t really the whimsical type. But we decided, why not? We head over to the booth and we hear a crowd start cheering. We see a couple that had just gotten engaged with the help of the caricaturist. Basically the couple would sit down and instead of the artist making it look like just a couple sitting down, the artist would draw the man down on one knee and a surprised reaction from the woman. After the picture is done, the woman would be looking at the picture the man would be ready down on one knee for when she turned around. This was Matthew’s secret plan all along, but Lesley decided to make it a little more interesting.
Cheering with them Lesley makes the comment, “How sweet, but I don’t think I would like it done that way. It would make me nervous in front of that many random people.” Matthew asks, “Really?”

Well Lesley’s mind starting connecting some dots and sure enough she talks before finishing her thoughts. “Were you going to propose?” she asks. “Maybe?” he says. “Are you serious? Oh my, I am so sorry. Are you serious?” Matthew says, “Yes.” We were kind of at a stand still, surrounded by all these people and Lesley needed some air.

We head out of Navy Pier and find a park bench. After quieting Lesley down with all her apologies, Matthew gets down on one knee and says to her, “You are the love of life, we have had so much fun together and so many adventures and I can’t wait to start this next adventure with you. Lesley, will you marry me?”

“YES!”

Lesley finds out later that the caricature idea was Matthew’s plan all along. He called the booth ahead of time and had a plan all set to go. The couple that was there before us happened to be a walk on and not planned. As much as it didn’t go according to his plan, Matthew said the end result was all he wanted.

How They Met

It was the end of the world, well according to the Mayans. 12-21-12. Brickstone Restaurant in Bourbonnais, Illinois was having an “End of the World” party and unknown to both of us we decided to attend.

Lesley walks in and looks for an open seat at the bar and eyes a bright blue and orange plaid shirt at the bar. She exclaims to her friend, “Let’s grab those open seats! You are already dating someone so I get to sit next to the plaid shirt guy.” After a couple of drinks she orders the infamous “winebomb”, takes it, and puts down the glass. She must have put down the glass a little harder than normal because plaid shirt guy aka Matthew heard the clank and said, “Well! What was that you just drank there?” So begins the journey for the night. Matthew shows her this “awesome” engineering app, he gets her number, he eventually gets a text asking him to come back and dance, and the favor of giving a girl a ride home after the party.

The first date came about with a text saying, “Bet you dinner you text first.” She said, “You lost.” and he replied, “Did I?”

Many craft beers, new friends, and road trips to South Dakota later he still owns the blue and orange plaid shirt and she still sits next to him.