Lindsay the Magnificent Bride

“We were staying at the Pfister when it  happened.” That phrase could apply to a million different situations. Lindsay was at the Pfister for the Magnificent Bride show earlier this month, where I captured her story.

Shaun and Lindsay met at UW-Milwaukee. He – a studious PhD candidate in psychology and she – a curious lab assistant. The courtship started with a roller derby and the engagement started with a derby of a whole different kind – a bet on a Kentucky Derby race horse. Shaun was watching the derby at Maxie’s Southern Comfort when he entered his name in a raffle and won an overnight stay at the Pfister. So, he and Lindsay decided to stay at the Pfister for their one-year anniversary.

When the weekend arrived, they enjoyed dinner at the Mason Street Grill and then set out to re-create their first date at a Brew City Bruisers roller derby bout. Lindsay boldly asked Shaun out after noticing him in class. Immediately on their first date, he warned her: “You know, we can’t really date because I am your teacher’s assistant.” By the end of the night, Shaun had changed his tune. “You know, it’d be stupid if we didn’t date. Let’s talk to our professor and see if we can’t work something out,” he suggested.

Shaun and Lindsay

One year later, back at the reenactment, Shaun and Lindsay sat trackside at the bout and she noticed that he was acting a little odd. “He didn’t want to converse with or hang out with any of our friends that were there, but I did’t really think anything of it.” Of course, he was just focused and didn’t want anyone or anything to deter him from his plan.

He watches her as she’s recounting the details and smiles sweetly. She’s vivacious an verbose, telling the story with the same excitement of the first time.

After the bout, they returned to the hotel to change into nice clothes to go up stairs to Blu. As Lindsay was putting the finishing touches on her look, her back was turned to Shaun and he said, “Before we go downstairs, there is something I’d like to ask you,” and he immediately got down on one knee. With her back still turned and after about a minute of dead silence, Lindsay turned around to see that the Shaun had been waiting on his knee with the ring in hand.

“That minute seemed to last forever,” confessed Shaun.

Although they had talked about marriage, Lindsay had no idea that the proposal was coming.  He had consciously stopped conversations about marriage so he could surprise her. The string of serendipity continued…

“So then we go up to Blu and there happened to be fireworks in honor of Chinese New Year!” proclaimed Lindsay. They ordered a set of chocolate-covered strawberries (Lindsay’s favorite) and the waitress came out with Congratulations written on the plate, though she had no idea that they had just gotten engaged. “It was so crazy, by pure coincidence she used this plate that was just laying around back there.”

Shaun and Lindsay are planning on tying the knot in May 2014 after graduation. “The Pfister has been a significant presence in our journey,” she said and after all this good luck, they fully intend to include the Pfister in the wedding plans.

Lindsay and Shaun at Blu post-engagement