[Editor's note: While interviewing Megan and Matt for their real wedding feature, we fell in love with the story of how they met. Here, they share in their own words how they recall that special night.]
Photo Credit: Kait Dowling Photography
Matt's version:
It was a dark and stormy night... actually, it really wasn’t. It was a pretty nice, slightly warm day in the early summer. I got a call from James, asking me to hang out. I was tired and wanted to play video games or take a nap, just to get some down time alone after the semester recently ended.
“I think I’m just gonna hang out here, man,” I said.
“My brother’s here,” said James.
“Tell him I said ‘Hi’.”
James paused. Sighed. “And so’s my sister.”
“I’ll be right over.”
* * *
Maybe I should start further back. A while before this, James tells me that his brother and sister are coming up for his graduation.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving, man! We’ve had such a great time [NOT] skipping class to watch movies and order pizza this year. I can’t believe you’re leaving me behind like this. How old?”
“What?” James looked puzzled. He obviously wasn’t used to how fast and powerful my brain was.
“How old is your sister?”
James rolled his eyes, upset that the concept of his sister derailed our bro-time. “She’s 24.”
“Excellent...” I gazed into the middle distance and touched my fingertips together, pretending to plot like a mad scientist.
“Matt, no. I know you’re handsome, charming and immensely intelligent, so you have to stay away from my sister.” I was ignoring him at this point, so this is what I approximate he said.
“Right, right. Of course.”
“I’m serious. If you hit on her, I will hit you. I mean it. “
“James, if she looks anything like you, you don’t have to worry. But was that a challenge I just heard?”
“No, Matt, it was a threat.”
“Challenge accepted!!" I shouted, startling several people on our bus.
* * *
I got to James’s house and knocked on the door. Jared [James and Megan's brother] answered it, because James was always far too important to get his own door unless it was someone with food. I followed him to where James was sitting and saw Megan. The world stopped. Angels sang. Kittens and babies danced together to the beat my heart made. I wanted to impress her. Should I flex my biceps? No, it’s far too soon for that. Just say something. Anything!
“Hi.” Not that. That’s just dumb. Who says “hi” anymore?
“Hi,” she said, smiling. Great success! But now, I was off guard, nervous. I didn’t have a follow-up planned.
“Er, are you...” I started, to her. Then, to James, “Is this...?”
“Yes, Matt. This is my sister.”
Come to think of it, it was always “my sister” with James. Never just “Megan.” Anyway, we all went out to pick up snacks after that. I drove, since I could fit everyone in my SUV and James’s car was filled to the brim with empty energy drink cans. I spent most of the drive attempting to impress Megan with random music trivia that I had collected over the years. It was working, although we were somewhat deterred by the vomiting sounds James was making, as if to say, “I am uncomfortable with this. Would you kind people please stop talking to each other?”
Really, the rest of the night wasn’t all that interesting, except maybe to us. We played board games and watched some TV. I kept on trying to scoot closer to Megan every chance I got, and James would sit between us every chance he got. That did not stop us from talking, however. We stayed up talking about music, life, and how we both thought James needed to meet the right girl.
I’ll cut it off there, as it’s probably awkward for everyone involved. Needless to say, though, James did hit me two days later. But it was too late. I was already in love.
Photo Credit: Kait Dowling Photography
Photo Credit: Kait Dowling Photography
Photo Credit: Kait Dowling Photography
Megan's version:
It was the night before my little brother, James, graduated from college, and I had just settled in on his couch to play some board games. James had mentioned that one of his friends might stop by to hang out with us. This annoyed me. I don’t get to spend much time with my brothers (James is the younger, Jared is the older) and certainly not at the same time, like I had planned to do this evening. But, I’d just decided it didn’t really matter when there was a knock on the door.
Matt Ligeti walked in, and I was annoyed all over again... because he was cute. Really cute. Now, my evening would be spent trying to focus on getting some quality time with my brothers while trying to ignore the fact that this really attractive human was around.
This plan did not work.
Matt apparently felt somewhat similarly, although I couldn’t exactly tell if he was interested in me or really interested in irritating my very protective little brother. He kept on asking me questions and kept moving closer towards me on the couch any chance he got. As the evening wore on, we talked about movies, music and life. Matt didn’t take himself too seriously, and I liked that right away. There was definitely a connection that I was having a very hard time pretending didn’t exist. I was trying so hard to resist because I was also graduating and had big plans of pursuing an acting career outside of the Midwest.
After the night that we met, I kept hearing from Matt. Thankfully, he was extremely persistent. He sent me Facebook messages and then started calling. A few weeks later he came to visit me and said, “I’m all in.” And my life was suddenly and delightfully changed.
Matt proposed to Megan about a year later, and the pair tied the knot on New Year's Eve. See their wedding photos here!
—Megan and Matt Ligeti
