Sara Guillotte ’15 and Nicholas Guillotte ’15

In March 2012, it was my freshman year and Nick’s junior year. Nick was a member of the FIJI fraternity, and I was in ADPi. A fellow ADPi sister – Kristine – was dating Nick’s then-roommate, fraternity brother, and best friend from high school. Kristine asked me to go with another brother as a friend – well, who doesn’t like a trip to the beach with a bunch of your friends for a whole weekend? Nick initially wasn’t planning to go but signed up to attend last-minute by being another brother’s plus-one. I’ll never forget chatting him up on the beach, throwing the football around, and stealing his horrendous jacket (which he still owns) in the freezing ballroom during dinner.

As Kristine and Nick had quite a few classes together, I would tag along for group study sessions. In those study times, group hangouts at the Edge apartment (and too many drinks at Devany’s), a great friendship blossomed between Nick and me. Over the years between that meeting on the beach, and finally being together beginning April 2020, we never lost touch completely.

This story is so perfectly summarized by the saying “right person, wrong time,” but we sure are glad the right time finally came (ten years later). Which leads us to our epic proposal…

Anyone that knows Nick knows he isn’t much of a planner. Many wedding details had already begun to be set and I began making jokes like “honestly you can just hand me the ring now,” and things like that. Anyone that knows me knows patience isn’t one of my strengths.

However, Nick really planned and really surprised me! Just before we went to Hawaii for Nick’s 30th birthday, we began planning a trip to DC for the UCF vs Navy game with a group of my friends from the Student Union. When discussing our plans for tailgate, we eventually decided to get tickets for the official UCF Alumni tailgate. Nick reached out to Caitlin ’15 and Skuba ’14 ’16 and immediately went to work in planning. This was the first time we all got to see Terry Mohajir speak in person, so everyone got excited and wanted to go watch up close (or so they said). I was barely listening and just scrolling on my phone until Ashley Marley, a UCF employee, wrapped up her closing announcements with, “I’d like to welcome my friend Nick on the stage.” I looked at Nick, very confused and asked, “Where are you going?”

It wasn’t until Nick said, “I’d like to invite all of you to be a part of very important moment of my life,” that I realized what was happening. Since UCF, football, and tailgating have always been such an important part of our relationship, the proposal couldn’t have been any more perfect! We’ll celebrate our two-year anniversary in April 2024.