It’s a good thing she RSVP’d considering the whole event — or rather, fake event — was planned in her honor, a way to lure her back to the pedestrian bridge whose connection, at least to the couple, is a lot more significant than just linking the UNT campus to Apogee Stadium. It’s where Lee, a photography alum, first realized that Alday was “the one” — and a place uniquely suited, he’d decided, to ensuring their connection was of the forever variety.

“When we first started dating, we would go for runs around campus — her favorite things to do were run and bake cookies,” says Lee, who served as a UNT System student regent and vice president of UNT’s Student Government Association, where Alday was the director of leadership and development. “One day, we were running across the campus bridge, and I just had this moment like, ‘This is it — I know it.’”

The two started dating four years before Lee, now an associate mobilization manager at JUUL Labs in Dallas, popped the question July 13. In the weeks leading up to the proposal, Lee was able to quell his nerves, even as he kept the engagement ring hidden in a bag that he always carries with him — one that Alday came in contact with almost daily.