Let me begin by saying that I have never seen two people look at one another with more love in their eyes than Spencer and Jacque, nor have I ever felt the love two people share fill an entire room. These two have a connection most people could only dream of; a connection so strong that only after five months of dating, they are engaged and planning what will inevitably be a beautiful wedding. However, just from spending an hour with them, I can easily say that their marriage will be far more beautiful than even the most beautiful wedding. Let’s start off with the basics as I take you through their love story:
Names: Jacquelyn Pulsfus & Spencer Merryfield
Year in School: Seniors
Majors
J: Communication Studies
S: Music Education
On-campus Activities
J: Marching Jayhawks, and I used to be on KU Crew
S: Marching Jayhawks, MusicEnsemble, and Basketball Band
Off-campus Activities
J: I work at Coldstone Creamery, I’m a student assistant for Journalism, and I was an intern at Jennings Social Media Marketing.
When I began to inquire about how they met, started dating, etc. Spencer was able to give me the exact date AND time for each!
S: To set the stage: We were both in marching band junior year, but somehow didn’t know the other existed, and our paths didn’t cross until August 23rd, 10:35 P.M. Central Time. Jacque was at a party with her roommate and I was at that party as well. We ran into each other when her boisterous roommate was conversating with me, and we started chatting. *Jacque interjects: I made the first move and stuck my hand out.* We clicked right away, except for the part where Jacque forgot my name thirty minutes after meeting me. We left the party and Jacque added me on Facebook.
J: When I added him on Facebook, I had this picture of a fish on my Facebook and Spencer wrote on my timeline, and all he said was, “Nice fish.” We have literally hung out every single day since then.
How Long Have You Been Together?
S: We’ve been together for 5 months and 3 weeks.
Turn-ons
J: Height, eyes, legs, musical abilities
S: Go-getter attitude, adventurous, independent, hair and butt
Turn-offs
J: Shallow, rude, impolite,
S: Negativity, someone who dwells on things
Favorite thing about the other person
J: The way he treats me and the way he looks at me, for sure.
S: She’s a passionate caregiver and a sexy athlete!
Favorite piece of clothing on the other
J: Red clothing, suits, and when he wears his basketball shorts with mid-calf socks and Birkenstocks. I think it’s so cute!
S: Sweater dresses
Weirdest thing about the other person
J: He always gets the hiccups when he eats too fast.
S: The way she does math! They taught her a weird way to do multiplication and division in Wisconsin and it freaks me out every time.
Pet peeves
J: The way he mixes his food.
S: The way she tells me how to eat.
Do you two have a song? Or something that’s solely yours? S: Not yet, but we’re definitely working on that for our first dance together as husband and wife.
Favorite restaurant: 715 & Chipotle
What’s your favorite thing to do together?
J: We like to share. We talk about our days, share stories, share food, etc.
What’s a typical night look like for the both of you?
On a Sunday night, Jacque will usually have something baked or cooked, Spencer will come over in the early evening, we’ll eat, try to do homework (this never works, it will always be procrastinated) and we just talk. We like that quality time with one another, we hardly ever watch TV, but we do watch weird documentaries on Netflix every now and then. Keyword: Weird.
Who made the first move/who pursued who first?
J: I introduced myself first and added him on Facebook.
S: I initiated the conversations and took the reins.
Favorite physical feature of the other person
J: Eyes and eyelashes
S: Left eyebrow and butt
If you could go on any vacation together, where would you go, what time of year, and why would you go there?
Spencer is obsessed with maps and sometimes we’ll just sit down together and look at them; we want to travel quite a bit. Jacque is interested in traveling more for food reasons, but if we had to pick one spot, we would probably take a trip to Greece when it’s spring or summer.
What was it about him/her that really hooked you?
J: His presence and confidence in the room.
S: Her eye contact, forwardness, openness, and depth.
First kiss
S: It was Sunday, August 25, 9:10 p.m. on my driveway, after we watched the VMA’s.
J: It was a real kiss. Perfect.
Take me through your first date
J: Spencer Facebook chatted me and told me we should get something to eat since it was Traditions night and I had said something along the lines of I’d already eaten or I was cooking and so, basically, I ruined that.
S: I went to Traditions night and I stuck around to find her afterwards, but I guess she had already left, so I was super disappointed. So when I got home, I messaged her, and, at the same time, she messaged me: We were both asking the other to hang out. She sent me her phone number and I asked her to hang out. We took a walk all around campus and ended up on the bench outside of Watson and just talked for hours.
Take me through your favorite moment together
J: Our engagement
S: Going to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving to see her and her family.
So this is your first Valentine’s Day together! What do you have planned?
S: Well we’re focused on bigger events (wedding, duh) but I have something in the works.
One piece of advice you have to couples who are just starting out, give us your wisdom!
S: Trust yourself and talk it out, talk it out, talk it out.
J: Take it slow, but trust your instincts. Stop telling yourself what you like, who you like, or you know what you want. No person is a fact sheet, everyone is so multifaceted and you will never know what you want until you know; until you meet that person.
I would be INSANE not to ask how you knew the other was the one!
S: We knew that we wanted to marry each other in late September. There was no question, we just knew. We actually waited to get engaged out of respect for our family and friends.
J: The steps always felt like they were coming at the right time. It was never rushed, but also never delayed.
Alright, I want all the details, how did the proposal happen?!
J: Spencer planned it so that I would have a girl’s day with my roommate. We went to go get our nails done, which I didn’t think anything of since my roommate always gets her nails done. Spencer was out of town, and I didn’t think he was coming back until later that night. I thought it was weird that my roommate was trying to help me pick out what I was going to wear. “Are you going to wear that?” kept getting asked and I thought it was so weird. After we got our nails done, we went to go take pictures on campus because she’s really into photography. I knew that we were getting engaged, because we had talked about it so much, and I knew it was happening soon, but I was so completely surprised when we drove by the Campanile and I saw him standing there. He was wearing a suit and I couldn’t stop freaking out in the car. My roommates made me get out because all I kept saying was, “OMGOMGOMGYOUGUYSYOUGUYSYOUGUYS!” I was so overwhelmed and crying the whole time, and he had this whole speech written out, asked me to marry him, and I couldn’t have been happier. Everyone knew except me!”
*Note: Awista is basically sobbing at this point, it’s fine.*
When’s the big date!
S: August 2nd, 2014
We’re getting married and then Spencer will be student teaching in the Kansas City area. Spencer’s looking at grad school and we’ll hopefully move somewhere warmer! As for starting a family? We’ll be waiting on that, of course.
And there you have it, folks! My words, no matter how eloquently written, will never be able to showcase this couple’s love and affection for one another. I can only hope that I brought their love story to life, and that it warmed your heart as much as it did mine. On behalf of myself and the entire Her Campus KU team, we wish Jacquelyn and Spencer a lifetime’s worth of love, joy, and success as they take the next step in life. May it bring you everything you want and more!