From their first kiss at Midnight Yell to a proposal in Academic Plaza, three engaged Aggie couples reflect on their relationships this Valentine’s Day.
Three soon-to-be brides said “yes” to their Aggie lovers under the Century Tree this past fall semester. Two senior couples and one former student couple continue to plan for their wed- ding day coming up.
Haley Neu, mechanical engineering senior, and Travis Burdick, statistics senior, said they met in a math class their sophomore year at Texas A&M.
“I had seen Haley around the class and thought she was cute, so I sat by her in class and we got to talking, went on a few study dates and after that I finally took her out to dinner to Texas Roadhouse on University Drive and we took off from there,” Burdick said.
Neu and Burdick dated for two years before Burdick proposed under the Century Tree on Oct. 22, 2017. Burdick said he spent the last first few months before October planning his proposal to Neu.
“My cover story was that I told her we were having an Aggie Band dinner that we could bring dates to and that we would take pictures at the Academic Building,” Burdick said. “I had a friend pick Haley up because I had made up an excuse that I was running late, while Haley walked in front of the Century Tree we had all our family and friends there.”
Neu said her favorite part about being an Aggie couple is that her fiancé is in the Aggie band.
“I love sitting with the Aggie Band members and having my guy to kiss when A&M scores a touchdown,” Neu said.
Holly Venber, education senior, and Daniel Brubaker, statistics senior, met during the fall semester of 2015 through Carpool, a non-profit student organization at A&M which provides free, non-judgmental rides home to students on weekend nights.
“We were both members of Carpool and this organization has a lot of social events for their members where the organization refreshes on policies once a week, and this is where Holly and I met each other,” Brubaker said.
Venber and Brubaker gradually became friends after taking classes together in the 2016 summer semester.
“Daniel tutored me in calculus that summer, we went to Sweet Eugene’s every night … and became really good friends,” Venber said. “In the fall of 2016, we started going on actual dates and in November we officially began to date.”
In order to keep their relationship fresh while balancing a busy college schedule, Brubaker said they make it a point to dress up a few times each month and go out to dinner.
“We both have a lot of responsibilities, but you always need to eat,” Brubaker said. “When we can’t go out, Holly and I cook dinner together at one of our houses.”
Former students Kindall Arnst and Brett Pennington, both Class of 2014, recently became engaged on Nov. 4 after the A&M-Auburn football game. The couple met at Texas Roadhouse on University Drive, where Arnst worked as waitress.
“I started hitting on her while she served us and we ended up having a conversation and I got her number that night,” Pennington said.
Arnst said her and Pennington’s first date included a movie and cooking Cajun chicken pasta together. Arnst and Pennington dated for three and a half years be- fore the proposal, but they had discussed getting married many times.
“Brett told me we were going to take Christmas pictures around the Academic building, which I thought nothing of be- cause we had done that in the past,” Arnst said. “Except when we got to the Century Tree, he asked if I’ve ever walked under it and that is when it dawned on me what was happening and I just started crying.”