Jessica Andis: [00:00:00] Tucker just comes sprinting at me and I was like, oh my gosh. Like,

what is the deal here? I had to, I had

Tucker Andis: to distract her and, and run her, run her away. So I took her to the opposite side of the tower. I got on one knee and asked to marry me, and your response was,

Jessica Andis: did you ask my dad yet?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Love stories Phyllis with joy and inspire hope for the future, and a true life.

Romance can remind us that sometimes just one spark is all it takes to change. Everything.

They met on deployment in the Middle East, and then they were sent in different directions. A declaration of love, an elopement, and a love story you’ll never forget. Welcome to Unexpected Love Stories. I’m your host, Don Koski. My special guests today are Tucker and Jessica Andis. Tucker is a proud Air Force officer from Yakima, Washington.

He loves [00:01:00] golf, cooking and making everyone laugh. Jess was adopted from Russia, but she grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She’s passionate about people, public communication, her dogs and Pilates. Now they live in South Carolina and I’m so glad to have them with me today. I just adore this couple and I know you will too.

Welcome you guys. How you doing?

Tucker Andis: So good.

Dawn Pruszkowski: That’s a lovely introduction. That

Tucker Andis: was,

Dawn Pruszkowski: oh, thank you. Thank you. Well, you are a lovely couple. Thank you. All right, well let’s go back to before you two met. What were you doing? Um, what did life look like for you and were you looking for love?

Tucker Andis: I’ll start off. Uh, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Serving in the Air Force, stationed at Rech Air Force Base, uh, which happened to be my fourth base in the Air Force. And, uh, as it typically works, getting [00:02:00] stationed somewhere for a short amount of time doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for you to meet somebody, especially with the understanding that you’ll be leaving.

Um, so by attempting to rush into a relationship. Or rush things, it just doesn’t tend to work out. And so at that point in time before meeting Jessica, uh, wasn’t really in a place of searching for someone, uh, I was more in a place of ready to move on to the next city. Uh, and that’s when I received, uh, the opportunity to deploy to Alfra.

And I found it exciting and, uh, that’s where I left off.

Jessica Andis: Yeah, for me, I was a college student at the time. Well, yeah, I was a college student and I was in the Air Force Reserves and I got orders that I was going to deploy and my dad was so mad, he was like, I need to talk to your leadership. And I was like, dad, you can’t get me out of this one.

I’m gonna go deploy. And at the time I was dating, uh, a different guy. And [00:03:00] then when I had got to. The deployment within like two weeks he had cheated on me and then that was over. So there was, there was about a three month period between then and when I had remembered meeting Tucker where I was just single and working out all the time and enjoying the UAE and the new country.

And it’s the best place to break up with somebody is being like literally across the world from them on a military base where like you have to work six days a week and then. Like the rest of the time, you’re just trying to do your best to like explore the country that you’re in and to enjoy the environment that you’re in.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Perfect. So great breakup place. Take note of that. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so then, uh, you guys are just on assignment, not looking, but how did you guys end up meeting and finding each other?

Tucker Andis: I’ll start.

Dawn Pruszkowski: They’re in the vast desert.

Tucker Andis: [00:04:00] Uh, once I got to the UAE, mind you, I only had about a two weeks notice, uh, where I took up this opportunity, uh, to go.

Um, it was kind of chaotic getting to the base. Uh, I actually had to stop at three different other bases before I got there, uh, which meant I met a lot of friends, uh, one of which invited me to what we call the smoke pit. And that’s typically where everyone hung out after work. Uh, while I walked up to his table, I saw two girls, um, and one of them was very lively, happy, funny, and beautiful.

Absolutely stunning. And. She had just broken up with her boyfriend.

Uh, we proceeded to meet a few more times, um, in, in and around the same area. [00:05:00]

Dawn Pruszkowski: So, so you just slid into the table next to her and started talking

Tucker Andis: the same table? The, the boy that I had become friends with, he was sitting with them waiting for me to show up. Uh, but Jess didn’t stay at the table. She kind of moved around and she had.

She was friends with everyone on base.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. I don’t think I really had any interest at that time. So when I remember meeting Tucker, um, I was giving him some training on this computer program that we used. For like, um, emergencies and stuff. ’cause he was the chief of safety out there. So I remember him coming into the office and then I saw him and my heart was pounding because it was like, oh my gosh, this is the most attractive man I’ve ever met in my entire life.

And I have to give him training now. And I remember just like rushing through the training. And I remember thinking honestly, like I remember even saying to you, please do not ask any questions. And then he was like, okay, do you mind if I just like play around with the computer for a second to familiarize [00:06:00] myself?

And I was like, yeah, sure. So then he sat in my chair and I was like, my heart is still like pounding. And I was like, I just actually, I actually think I want him out of my office because this is like uncomfortable. And then he left and I turned to my, um, coworker and I said. He was actually my supervisor.

I said, I’m gonna marry that man one day. And like it was just like, I never said something like that about somebody. But the funny thing is, is like, to me that was love at first sight to him. We had already met five times before that,

Tucker Andis: at least, at least the difference was is I had shaved my stash the night before, so

Jessica Andis: I didn’t recognize him without a, a mustache.

So it’s like, I, I don’t know, it’s like, um, Clark Kent with his sunglasses or his glasses on or whatever. Like, I could not, I could not, I couldn’t tell it was the same person.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay. So Tucker, did you keep your mustache off since she, that’s when she fell in love for quite a while. [00:07:00]

Tucker Andis: Yeah. I, I didn’t know that was the case because to me, I had met.

Jessica at least a dozen times. Uh, and so the fact that I received this training with her wasn’t something that kind of, uh, blew me away or thought that anything was different on this occasion. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when I called back to her office and her supervisor picked up, and after our conversation, he said, by the way, uh.

Your future wife says hello, and I thought

Jessica Andis: it was me. Who could that be? And I was so embarrassed, like I was like, oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing.

Tucker Andis: So yeah, at that point we ended up, uh, running into each other time and time again. Uh, there was a lot of pressure to, um, you know, spark something up. Uh, I feel like because of the.

Short timeline that [00:08:00] we had left on deployment, which was only about three or four months. I didn’t think it would be a wise decision to attempt a relationship considering at that point I’d already decided I’m not going to do a distance relationship. I won’t, I refuse to do distance. Uh, I refused to try and make things, uh, faster than they ought to go.

I also refuse to date someone that I work with. Uh, but all that aside. I decided, you know what? I think this, let’s check this out. And uh, upon meeting Jessica and having our first date, I realized, wow, she really is something special. I think I’m gonna break all the rules for this one.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay. So you said there was a lot of, um. Sounds like people were trying to get you two together or,

Tucker Andis: mm-hmm.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yep. Oh, because like you, you have like her boss saying your future wife is calling and Yeah. All of this. So [00:09:00] did that, is that what kind of triggered you just go like, okay, alright. There was, maybe I’ll try.

There was probably,

Tucker Andis: yeah, there was probably about six or seven folks, uh, that encouraged me to, uh, take her on a date and get to know her. It wasn’t until my roommate at the time, uh, really pushed me, uh, one evening and said, Tucker, just go. And I said, all right, I’m gonna go. I’ll give it a shot. And so we did.

But yeah, dating in the, well, just,

Dawn Pruszkowski: just what did you think when he, when the man, you’re going to marry Mustache man. Uh. Said, Hey, let’s go out. What did you, what did you do? What did you think?

Jessica Andis: Um, I probably didn’t think really anything crazy of it at the time. I think I was like, excited and talking about it makes me excited again, but I was pretty excited.

But I didn’t, I didn’t realize that like, you [00:10:00] know, this word vomit that came out would ever come into fruition.

Tucker Andis: One of our first dates was, uh, dinner for my birthday, and, uh, upon driving home, I said, for my birthday, would you like to be my girlfriend?

Jessica Andis: Yeah. And then I, I said, yes, or I think I might have asked you.

Do you want a girlfriend for your birthday? That’s

Tucker Andis: what it was. That’s what it was.

Jessica Andis: But I also like, immediately after this, like I remember going back to my room thinking like, oh my gosh, what have I done?

Dawn Pruszkowski: I feel sick. What am I thinking? What just came out of my mouth? Yeah. Yeah. I had just gotten

Jessica Andis: out of this like relationship.

I was doing great. Like, I was like, how am I already locked down again? Like I felt like sick, like I was freaked out and I was like, whatever. Like I’m not gonna. Break things off because I’m scared. I’m just in a relationship now, which was like, it was exactly what we had already been doing. Just with the label on [00:11:00] it.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm.

Jessica Andis: Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay. And then orders.

Tucker Andis: Yep. So send you in

Dawn Pruszkowski: different ways.

Tucker Andis: That’s correct. What, uh, I left in October of 2022 back to Las Vegas, uh, and was back in the same routine. Flying on shift work and Jessica left in November back to Ohio. So pretty much the whole United States was in between us now. And

Jessica Andis: before you had left though, he had spoken to me and he said, if we’re going to do this relationship, um.

I am gonna go all the way, like this is gonna be everything or nothing at all. ’cause he was like, I’m put, like, I’m putting myself in a pretty uncomfortable situation here. Like he had told me he was not interested in doing long distance. So he was like, if we choose to do this, I have, like, he told me, [00:12:00] he, like, he was planning on marrying me if that was the case.

So we knew from then that I’d say that was about three months into our relationship. He. Expressed that, like that was his goal was to marry me.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yep. Hello

Jessica Andis: Tucker?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. Okay.

Okay. So, um, you’re apart. How do you keep your relationship strong being so far apart from each other and it’s not like you just have the freedom to. You know, travel whenever you want to.

Tucker Andis: That’s right. So after getting back, I had two weeks off from work that I could use to travel. Uh, so I spent that traveling back to Ohio to greet Jessica, uh, back from her deployment and.

I really just burned a lot of leave and spent a lot of money on plane tickets. Uh, but the goal was that once a [00:13:00] month we would spend at least four to five days together, uh, either in Ohio or in Las Vegas.

Jessica Andis: Yeah, we were really fortunate to like, be able to have the finances to be able to fly out. I think like flying out to Las Vegas for me, like wasn’t like.

Flying out to this expensive place because Las Trip, like tickets to Las Vegas are cheap because they want you to be there. And um, thankfully Tucker was able to buy all my plane tickets to go there. Um, I think in order for it to work, we had to have like a set end date. Like we knew at this point, like once I was out of college.

Like to, there was light at the end of the tunnel ’cause it was not easy at all. And then for Tucker, I think it was particularly hard for him because we were just at completely different stages of our life. We go from being on a deployment where we’re, we have pretty similar routines. We’re in the same environment.

To like, okay, now he’s a 27, 20 8-year-old guy, [00:14:00] and then I’m still in a sorority in college. So it, it was kind of like a shock to him when he visited me and I’m living in my sorority house, and I think that honestly freaked him out there for a second. So, to get through this like period of like, you know, I just gotta finish my degree and then.

The intent was us getting married ’cause I was not gonna move in with my boyfriend. And then, um,

Tucker Andis: yeah. Yeah, I think having something to look forward to as well. Yeah. Having trips, having them planned out. Yeah. Knowing that the next trip is secured when you’re with each other, that there will be a time and a date specifically of when you will see each other again.

Uh. It reads a lot of confidence in the relationship.

Jessica Andis: Yeah, I think now, like this is everything that I prayed for, so like it just makes you more grateful to be with the person now too, because like it was the worst, like having to say goodbye and be far apart and just like waiting [00:15:00] until the next time you got to see each other again.

It was, it was a terrible heartache and waiting period, so it makes me more grateful now that we live together.

Dawn Pruszkowski: So, um, just how, how long until you were you finally graduated? Truly a year.

Tucker Andis: It was about a year. It was a little over a year. Uh, from the time that Jessica got back to the time she graduated,

Dawn Pruszkowski: when did you start going like, I gotta put a ring on it.

Tucker Andis: So, while I was in the Emirates, I’d actually gone to, they, they call ’em Suks. I went to a gold suk and purchased, uh. Three rings. And of those rings, uh, we have one of them left. No, you

Jessica Andis: have your ring.

Tucker Andis: I made, uh, my current ring out of one of the rings. Mm-hmm. Um, but I knew that I needed to invest in this and this was the time, uh, [00:16:00] once we got back to the United States and approximately a few months into it, once I got somewhat comfortable with the fact that.

Everything is okay. Uh, things are different. Um, we’re in a completely different environment than when we were in the UAE together.

Mm-hmm.

I decided, all right, Jessica only has about a year left of school. We can make it. This is working out and I still have the intent of marrying her. Uh, I’m not gonna wait and I need to get engaged.

Or we need to get engaged.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. I think, um, you had a trip to DC Yes, and it was my summer break, so I didn’t have anything other than military obligations that summer, so it was a much easier plane trip to Washington DC than it was to Las Vegas. So I did a couple trips out there to spend. Time with him.

And that was so fun because everything there is free. Um, if you don’t live there, the, the [00:17:00] people have to pay like crazy taxes to live there because it’s so expensive. But, um, all the museums and everything to do there is, is free. So we got to run around there and enjoy the good food.

Tucker Andis: Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

So I spent two months in Washington, DC Uh, the opportunity arose for me to go and I figured since it’s closer to Ohio, it’d probably be cheaper.

Uh, plus since she was on summer break, we’d get to spend more time together there.

Jessica Andis: Mm-hmm.

Tucker Andis: It was May and May and June and Jessica had just flown down and I started making the plans for the engagement because I decided this would be the most beautiful place to do an engagement. And with those plans in mind, I booked a photographer.

I knew the exact place, I knew the date. I booked the hotel and upon getting back to the hotel where Jess was at, I had a notification [00:18:00] stating that my check-in time was right then for the hotel that I booked at the Waldorf Astoria, and it was $1,200 non-refundable. So I had to act fast. I’d accidentally booked it for the day of thinking that it was a month out.

Oh

Jessica Andis: no.

Tucker Andis: With that month’s timeframe, I was planning on flying or driving to Ohio to ask her mother and father permission to marry their daughter. But now we’re on a very tight time crunch and not a whole lot of wiggle room, and I did not wanna lose out on that money. So I came back to the hotel, uh, with the intent to tell Jessica we’re going on an on a date.

Uh, so I told her to get ready. And we had no time to pack anything. I didn’t want to give anything away. So I get her in the car and I said, I forgot. What did I forget?

Jessica Andis: No, you don’t remember. I,

Tucker Andis: I said I forgot something in the [00:19:00] room. So I sprinted up to the room, called her dad, said, Chris, this is gonna sound crazy, but I’m asking your daughter to marry me tonight.

I can’t, I don’t really have time to explain why or how we got here. I had the full intent to ask you. In Ohio, in person well in advance, but things went a little haywire. Do I have permission to marry your daughter? And he said, uh, on one condition she has to graduate college. And I said, deal. So off I went back to the car and uh, we drove off.

Her favorite food is mac and cheese. We got mac and cheese. Uh, we went down to dc, walked around, checked out the Waldorf Astoria. Where I checked in nonchalantly,

uh, had had a little bit to eat and then I pretended as though there was something wrong with the food and the service.

Jessica Andis: Yeah, we [00:20:00] had gotten like. Asparagus and some wine, which the wine did take like a crazy amount of time for it to get to us. Like we were just getting drinks and asparagus. And then he went up and I remember like sitting there and he was like talking to the lady that was like working there or whatever, and he came back and he was like, okay, babe.

Like they, okay, sorry. He wants to tell it.

Tucker Andis: So I was in a panic frenzy and I run up to whoever I think is in charge, the manager and I, I tell them my predicament. Exactly what happened and where I stand. And she said, don’t worry, it’s all handled. Be back here at 9:00 PM we’ll meet you and we’ll take care of it all.

And I said, okay, sounds good. So I had to run over to Jessica and make up a story within 10 seconds and I said, it’s all taken care of. We get a free, we get to go to a free party at 9:00 PM here and we get to go check out the bell Tower and get a, uh, tour because of how bad the service was, which. Just really non believable, but [00:21:00] I believed it.

She believed it. They closed at eight, but somehow we have a private tour at nine.

Jessica Andis: I had no idea like there was like this bell tower or anything. So,

Tucker Andis: so we, uh, had to burn about two hours. Uh, we walked around, checked out DC went to the White House, came back to the hotel, and there she was ready to give us our grand tour of the hotel, take us to the bell tower on the elevator.

We went. And upon getting to the top of the tower, we exited the elevator and sitting right in front of the elevator was a bottle of champagne on ice. And I thought, oh my gosh, they just gave it away. She’s gonna see it, she’s gonna know what’s happening,

Jessica Andis: which I did not see it by the way. And all I was doing was just looking at like the view at the top of this bell tower.

You can see all of Washington dc and then I was kind of standing over by the edge there, and then all I, all of a sudden Tucker just comes sprinting at me and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, what is the here I had, I [00:22:00] had to

Tucker Andis: distract her and, and run her, run her away. So I took her to the opposite side of the tower.

I got on one knee and I asked her to marry me. Your response was,

Jessica Andis: did you ask my dad yet?

I said, did you go, okay. So I was not gonna say yes unless my dad said yes already. And um, he was like, yeah, I asked your dad. And I remember when you got down on one knee, like you couldn. Say like, you didn’t, you couldn’t say anything

Tucker Andis: for a second. I, I started crying

Jessica Andis: and I, yeah. And then I was just like, oh my gosh, did you ask my dad?

And you were like, yeah. And then I said, okay. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So then, um, then I saw the bottle of champagne, and then we popped the cork, and then we had some champagne. And then I didn’t even know that we were spending the night there because. Uh, Tucker was like, do you wanna spend the night here? And I was like, yeah.

And he goes, well, we can’t. It’s $1,200 to spend the night here. And I was like, oh, okay. But then he was like, your dad knows we [00:23:00] have a room here tonight. We’re gonna spend the night here. And then we went down to the bar in this beautiful. Hotel. Hotel and I was just like really excited telling everybody at the bar that I had just gotten engaged walking around.

Well, hello.

Tucker Andis: Everyone bought us drinks and we didn’t bring phone chargers. We didn’t bring a change of clothes.

Jessica Andis: No, it was a

Tucker Andis: little chaotic. Uh, Jessica did not sleep. She woke me up in the middle of the night with a Coca-Cola and a knife. This,

Jessica Andis: they had their fridge stocked with, um, like bottled coke. And I was just like so thirsty.

And I, I was like, this and the middle of the night and with a knife. Yeah. It was a twist off. So I just twisted it

Tucker Andis: off and handed to her and,

Jessica Andis: but I did not wanna see so excited. I called my dad and he was like, oh, congratulations. And he was, he was happy for us.

Dawn Pruszkowski: [00:24:00] Yeah. So, yeah. Oh, I love that. Okay. I love that.

Okay, so you’re engaged.

Tucker Andis: Yep.

Dawn Pruszkowski: You wait until after Jess has graduated college. Yeah,

Jessica Andis: which, which was in, that was in December, so I graduated December, 2023 and then, okay. The date that I flew out to Las Vegas was January 8th, and then we eloped on January 9th.

Tucker Andis: Yes, and the issue that we ran into when I got back from DC was I’ve been in Las Vegas for now four years, and I know that I need to leave soon.

So my concern was simply getting to the next base. And when will that be? Fortunately, my commander understood and. He got me orders to South Carolina. The only problem is the orders were for March of [00:25:00] 2024, so there was a lull period from after Jess graduated to when we could move to South Carolina and start our lives together.

That being said, we had the full intent to be married before we moved in together and live together. And so, uh, during the moving process, we decided that when Jessica flew back into town. To El. Yeah. And that’s where you come in, Don. Oh, me,

Dawn Pruszkowski: me? Yeah. Running in the story.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. So my dad, my parents were like completely tracking.

Tucker did not really tell his parents like that was the, the plan. So I didn’t tell anyone.

My

dad, my dad dropping me off to the airport. He was like tearing up and he was like, are you sure you wanna do this? I was like, yeah, dad. Like I’m as ready as I can be. And, um. It was super important to me. For us to get married.

I, and it ended up working out because we got the hard [00:26:00] part over with like, we had our first year of marriage under the belt, before we had gotten Mar like had a ceremony with our family and that was the real growing pains. I had lived alone for the last three years. So moving in with you was difficult for me and I’m sure it was an adjustment for you as well.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. Listeners, we’d love to hear from you. Please connect with us and share your comments about this episode on YouTube, Spotify, or whatever streaming platform you use. We want you to become part of the conversation, so please go to our website, unexpected love stories.com and share your love story with us.

You can find a link to it in our episode guide. And while you’re there, check out the photos of couples from each episode. We’d love you to share our podcast with your family and friends so that they can enjoy these stories as well. Unexpected love stories could be found on all their favorite podcast [00:27:00] platforms.

Okay, so tell us about the elopement.

Tucker Andis: Absolutely. So I actually, I didn’t tell, I didn’t tell my family. I didn’t tell my roommate and uh, I wanted it to kind of be a surprise, so. We needed, we needed a witness And meeting you, Dawn, we met a couple years prior. And so funny ’cause uh, I had just, it was about a 40 minute drive to church and I didn’t really go that often, but it was, I believe my first time.

And you were standing there, uh, just happened to be in the same row as me. And that’s when we met. We’d known each other and I’d known that you were a minister. You could, uh, marry people. So I asked you, uh, how do we do this process? How do we work it? Uh, you filled us in, helped us out with all the paperwork, uh, and we decided we’re gonna do it in the desert.

We needed a witness. So not [00:28:00] telling anyone, uh, it was kind of difficult. So we actually, uh, told one of our friends that we were just gonna meet him there for a hike. And the other one, I think. We shared with Anthony.

Jessica Andis: Yeah.

Tucker Andis: Yeah. We shared with Anthony so that he’d show up. Yeah. So he knew it was important to be there.

Jessica Andis: And then we told our friend Greta, we said, uh,

Tucker Andis: we’re going for a hike. We’re

Jessica Andis: going for a hike. Do you wanna meet us at Red Rock tonight?

Tucker Andis: So we had two witnesses on deck. Yeah. And they both showed up and we eloped in the deserts of Red Rock.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. The crazy part. Before all this happened, um, I had my drill weekend for.

The military and I feel like the devil was working to make sure that this did not happen. But I literally fractured my L five two days prior to this. So I remember like when, wherever we were staying, I think we were staying at some casino. Um, and then you had to literally, I had to hold your arm everywhere we walked.

’cause my [00:29:00] back hurts so bad. But we did it. We made it there, and my back’s better now. Yeah,

Tucker Andis: I had a roommate and so, uh, when Jess came to town, we would typically, uh, stay at casinos. Uh, the Golden Nugget had a deal going on, uh, with free stays, and so I took advantage of that and it worked out.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yeah. Right.

Okay. So you guys tied the knot in the desert,

Tucker Andis: tied the knot in the desert. Yep.

Dawn Pruszkowski: And

Jessica Andis: then it was so nice and private. Nobody’s hands were in my, in the pot. It was very peaceful and it was good, and it was everything it needed to be. It was so special and it was, yeah, it was really

Dawn Pruszkowski: special.

Jessica Andis: And then we went to like this hole in the wall, like pizza place afterwards and like that was so fun too.

Like everything just went perfectly. Felt right? Yeah, it felt very right. Yeah.

Tucker Andis: [00:30:00] It felt like the right decision. Okay. The whole way.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Alright. And then how did, okay, two things. How did family react and friends, when they found out that you’re now married And then with Jess having her, uh, back fractured, did you guys take a honeymoon?

Tucker Andis: So Jessica, your family, how did they react?

Jessica Andis: They already knew.

Tucker Andis: Yeah, but were they a little hesitant and a little,

Jessica Andis: my dad was, he was just like sad to see me grow up.

Tucker Andis: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, my, I remember we called my nana and she was so excited and she said that that was the right decision. Uh, she fully backed us up.

She thought that everything we did, we did it exactly how we should have. And her, you know. Being from the sixties and seventies, I think she felt like, uh, that was somewhat what their [00:31:00] generation might have done. Um, and I think she, she absolutely encouraged it, thought it was the right call. Uh, both my parents were very disappointed that they weren’t invited otherwise.

I think they were very supportive. I, I felt as though our friends and family were very supportive, especially when we explained to them the, uh, the circumstances. The reason why it also helped with Jessica now being my wife for the orders. So we were then able to move all of my stuff and then actually all of her stuff was paid for to be moved to South Carolina.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. I remember when we called your mom, she didn’t believe you. At first. She did not believe me. She goes, are you kidding? And we were like, no. And she’s like. What, like she couldn’t believe it.

Tucker Andis: Yeah. We called everyone on the drive. Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: So did you take, were you able to take a honeymoon?

Jessica Andis: No, we did not. We went on a trip to Hawaii with Tucker’s family, [00:32:00]

Tucker Andis: so we somewhat did.

Jessica Andis: It’s, it was,

Tucker Andis: my dad said that, uh, we had a family trip to Hawaii. And he said I could take Jessica, but I would have to pay for her travel. And, uh, we would stay in separate rooms and I would have to pay for her room upon giving my dad the notice that now we’re married, uh, we actually drove up to Oregon.

Yeah. And he said, well, now that she’s family, she’s covered. So we spent a week in Hawaii and it was very fun and very magical.

Jessica Andis: Yeah, it was. It was peaceful

Tucker Andis: playing in the water. We felt like kids.

Jessica Andis: And that was like February. Yep.

Tucker Andis: A month later.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. So we got some trip. Yes.

Tucker Andis: And right after that we,

Jessica Andis: yeah. Okay.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Alright, so you moved, but. Jess needs her princess wedding. That’s right. Yes. Every girl needs her [00:33:00] princess wedding.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. So I went, so yeah, I went back and forth in my mind on like what we wanted to do and what was right for us. I grew up Catholic. I’m still Catholic, so it was like I knew that I would regret not being married in the Catholic church and we tossed around the ideas.

We went back and forth probably for months trying to figure out like. What was best for us, and then we settled on that. And then we got married. We decided to get married in the church that I grew up in, in Ohio.

Tucker Andis: Her father helped out quite a bit.

Jessica Andis: Yes, he did. He, he helped out financially a lot with the wedding and then, um,

Tucker Andis: but also going and visiting.

Jessica Andis: Yes. He got to go visit the venues for the receptions for us so that we. I had peace of mind knowing that it was a good spot for the reception afterwards. And then he pretty much let me plan the rest of everything else, and it ended up being the [00:34:00] most perfect day of our lives. Like everything went off without a hitch and was perfect

Tucker Andis: since, since how, since my side had to travel to Ohio.

We had the reception actually at the hotel.

Jessica Andis: Yeah.

Tucker Andis: Which was really nice. We had a blocked off set of rooms, uh, for family and friends, and they flew down a couple days prior. We were able to get, have the reception go off without a hitch. Uh, my brothers barely made it.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. They missed their

Tucker Andis: flight. Uh, they were able to catch the next one, but that was really the only, uh, problem that occurred and it wasn’t even a problem.

So the day of the wedding, uh. Believe it or not, myself and the groomsmen were the first ones to arrive at the church all ready to rock and roll. Yeah. Uh, we were actually placed in a, uh, the priest’s back room and Jessica’s mother came to the back room[00:35:00]

and she said, I need a moment with Tucker. So I went down to the hallway. I made sure that I wasn’t in view of anyone, or I couldn’t see Jessica. And in my pocket I had my grandpa Lynn, my dad’s father. I had his handkerchief so I could have a piece of him with me. Uh, and so I thought that was very special to have, you know, a family member who couldn’t be there, obviously, uh, with me.

Jessica’s mother, Julie, uh, came up to me with this little baggie and she said, Tucker, I don’t know why, but I believe this is on my heart, that God placed this on my heart and I want to give you my father’s rosary. So Grandpa Russ, who also couldn’t be there, uh, she gave me her father’s rosary. Jessica’s grandpa.

This is it. Mm-hmm. [00:36:00] Um, Julie and I hugged and cried a little bit, and I turn around and the entire groomsmen party is bawling their eyes out.

Yeah.

Everyone has tears streaming down their faces, and I just thought it was so special because I had both grandparents’ belongings side by side in my breast pocket.

And it was very special.

Jessica Andis: Yes. Oh my gosh. Right after I’d walked down the aisle and I, we sit in these chairs up on the altar together. He keeps like trying to tell me something. I’m like, can this wait until after the ceremony? I was like, I cannot hear you. Tell me later. And he was like whispering. And then we, there was a moment where they play Ave Maria, and then you go over to the statue of Mary and drop off a flower.

You just pray for, um, you just pray to God to help your family [00:37:00] and, uh, for children and fertility and a happy marriage and tuck. That’s when Tucker told me that my mom had given him her dad’s rosary, and I thought that that was really special too. And. We were both standing there crying again because it was so special.

Tucker Andis: It was so special that we cried so much that the song ended and we had it returned. Yeah, we weren’t ready.

Jessica Andis: We were

Tucker Andis: still

Jessica Andis: crying, trying to get it together, and then we walked back over and finished the ceremony and it was the quickest,

Tucker Andis: which is why this came in handy. So the handkerchief came in handy for both Jess and I to wipe our way, our tears

Jessica Andis: and everyone said it was the best Catholic wedding that they had been to because it was.

So fast. It was about a 45 minute ceremony because we had already been married, so it wasn’t, and it wasn’t like a mass because his family’s Protestant, my family’s Catholic, so we didn’t do the whole communion and mass thing. So it was, it was just perfect. Yeah. [00:38:00]

Dawn Pruszkowski: And then you went back and celebrated at the hotel?

Yeah, we

Tucker Andis: did. I think the wedding, my best man, his name’s Seth, he. Took his responsibility very seriously. The morning, the night before the wedding, we, we prayed together the morning of, he met me in the room when Jess was getting ready. And, uh, you know, we, we prayed together before we left for the wedding.

Uh, as we were getting ready, he prayed over all of us, and then once we were in the priest back room, he prayed over us again. I truly believe that. Just spending so much time in prayer, especially with Seth, uh, really made this thing go, go off so well. Once we got back, um, everyone came to our rooms to congratulate us.

Uh, we took some photographs and then the reception, uh, we came running out, uh, cut the cake, got our dance done, and Jess was [00:39:00] very. What would you say?

Jessica Andis: It was a little tense,

Tucker Andis: very tense. She wanted, it’s just,

Jessica Andis: it’s just uncomfortable with everybody watching you.

Tucker Andis: We had a schedule and we had to stick to it.

Yeah. And I feel like just,

Jessica Andis: I had spent so long planning every detail of this, like I needed it. Like I needed to let go a little bit and like enjoy what I had planned. But I was like, you know,

Tucker Andis: so I, when we were on the dance floor, I said. Just relax. They just wanna see us have fun. It doesn’t matter whether or not we dance good.

They just wanna see us smiling and have a good time. So once we got back to the table, that’s exactly what happened. We kind of relaxed a little bit and we just had the greatest time.

Jessica Andis: Mm-hmm.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I have a question, Tucker.

Tucker Andis: Yeah.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Um, so because you’ve already been married at this point for over a year, um, ’cause this for people who.

When they watch, this is gonna be a little bit later on, but you guys [00:40:00] just had that big ceremony last month.

Tucker Andis: Yes. Yes.

Dawn Pruszkowski: This is really fresh. Yeah. Um, when, uh, when you saw Jessica walk, like, you know, that whole, like the music starts and she appeared, what, what did you feel? What did you see?

Tucker Andis: I, well, so her father was walking her down.

There’s an awful photo that I hope never gets released, but I did not think I would cry. I told Jess I wouldn’t cry. Um, I just felt as though I was a part of the ceremony and that my emotions wouldn’t really be seen, even though I love her immensely. But as soon as she started to walk down, I of course cried and I shook her father’s hand, and the photo is.

Uh, not, um, pretty, yeah,

Jessica Andis: getting down the aisle was, [00:41:00] was tough too. Like, not, not falling my eyes out. I think all three of us, we were, it was

Tucker Andis: not flattering. Yeah.

Jessica Andis: But then once we, we got there, my dad gave me a kiss on the cheek and put our arms together and then the priest, he kind of got up close to us and he said, okay guys, take a deep breath.

And like, I feel like the weight had been lifted off my shoulders. We, we got the ball rolling. He’s like, okay, I’ll tell you guys everything you guys have to do. Don’t worry. Just relax and then go sit up in your chairs. And we did that and everything else went really well.

Tucker Andis: Yeah. Even though we had rehearsed it, I’d forgotten everything.

Jessica Andis: Yeah, he did. So the

Tucker Andis: fact that I had Jessica and the priest to help me out and guide me was very nice. He just like,

Jessica Andis: I dunno, we, he, we went up onto the altar to go sit down on at the chairs that are up there and I

Tucker Andis: tried to stand,

Jessica Andis: he was front, he was standing there and I was like, babe, come on. We gotta go sit down.[00:42:00]

Dawn Pruszkowski: He is like, oh, okay. Oh my gosh. Okay. And this, and this is so sweet, um, that you guys, we have photos of not one, but two weddings.

Jessica Andis: Yeah,

Dawn Pruszkowski: yeah. Right. And lots of other, uh, special times. So I’m just gonna say right now, friends, I just want you to come to our website, unexpected love stories.com. That’s where you can see these great pictures of Tucker and Jess from both weddings and all those sweet times in their love stories.

I don’t know, I guess we’re not gonna see a picture of Tucker crying, but just click in the link that’s in our show notes, or just click on the link that’s in our show notes below. It’s gonna take you right to their episode page so you can see those pictures. You can read more about them. Um. And you’re just gonna enjoy finding out more.

So I’ve just got a question. How [00:43:00] did that celebration like feel different from your elopement?

Tucker Andis: Well, I think I encourage anyone to elope, uh, because it does e even though we eloped, it didn’t actually feel that much different than the actual marriage. And it almost felt as though. Uh, the strengthening of the marriage, uh, both were very magical.

Both had, uh, very unique feelings of love, uh, bubbling up inside of you. Uh, both were very special. Uh, both felt as a commitment. Um, and what would you say.

Jessica Andis: Uh, I knew that it would feel like I would feel super married because, you know, the closer we got super married, the closer we got to it, the more convicted I was that I wanted to do the Catholic wedding.

So the more excited I got about [00:44:00] it. And then once I received the sacrament, I was pretty pumped after that because all my friends here, all my friends I hang out with are Catholic. And yeah, that, their encouragement meant a lot to me ’cause they were so excited for me. So I like, it was just awesome. Yeah,

Dawn Pruszkowski: let’s hear more about this new chapter in your life.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. So

Tucker Andis: Jessica, did you have a dream?

Jessica Andis: Oh, I did have, I was praying. Michelle had the dream. Oh. So I was praying and I got a vision that I was pregnant at my rehearsal dinner and that I announced it there and I felt like it was already gonna be a girl, because every dream that I had prior about my baby.

Before I’d even tr like this was before we even tried to have her, um, it, it was always a girl. So then I got up off, off my bed after I got done praying, I said, Tucker, I just got a vision that I was pregnant at my rehearsal dinner and that, um, that it was a [00:45:00] girl. And then the next day, the

Tucker Andis: next morning, my stepmom,

Jessica Andis: his stepmom calls him and says, I had a dream that Jessica was pregnant at her rehearsal dinner, and that it was a girl.

So it was just like the craziest thing ever. Mind you, we hadn’t even tried yet. So that was probably, that was still about four months out, three months out, yep.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Wow. So God was just preparing you.

Jessica Andis: Yeah. He was

Dawn Pruszkowski: like, by

Jessica Andis: the

Dawn Pruszkowski: way,

Tucker Andis: so we got to announce it.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Hey. Yeah. Yeah. So, alright. So you, so did it surprise your stepmom?

Tucker Andis: Uh, well, she knew, but at the rehearsal dinner we, Jessica did announce it and many people were surprised. Yeah.

Jessica Andis: Aw. But we were so excited. And then for moving, like going forward. We are going on our real honeymoon and we’re going to Italy and we’re so excited. Um, ’cause this year [00:46:00] for Catholics, it’s year Jubilee, so like it’s a huge pilgrimage year for Catholics.

So at the beginning of the year I was praying about it. I was like, I feel like I have to go to Italy. This year and Tucker was like, no, you’re not. Like normally at in Catholic churches, you can go like in groups that are like, you know, it’s a set price of like $6,000 and you’ll go as a church and everything’s like planned out for you and whatever.

So I was like, I feel like I should go on this. And then we were talking about where we wanted to go for a honeymoon. We originally said Bali, and then Tucker was like, no, I’m gonna go to Europe. There’s literally no place in Europe that I would actually wanna go to other than Italy. So. We ended up, um, deciding on Italy and Tucker was like, we can, we can go to Rome.

I’ll take you to the Vatican. I know it’ll be really special to you. And he honored that for me, and that was so special and kind for him. And then after that, everything fell into place. So my friend Celia, she, um, she has stayed in Rome before and her parents have, and what you do is you, you can [00:47:00] reach out to like a convent that you know of or.

You know, our church has like a house there that you can stay at. So I reach out to this convent, um, and they, and I asked if you, if they had any availability for us to stay there. And mind you, this is the year of Jubilee in November. Towards the end, like I didn’t really expect maybe like a day or two that we could stay there.

Um, but they have like these guest departments that you can stay in. They’re like, you can stay here for I think, six or seven days that we need it. And they were like, you can come with us to mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, which was like so cool because where they do the mass at, it’s right next to the bones of like St.

Peter, like the apostle himself, which was like so cool to me. And they’re excited to see me when I get there, but it, it just, and it’s completely free of charge too, so like obviously we’ll give them. A very great donation and I know there’s something there waiting for me. I’m not sure what it is, but like, God put it on my heart earlier this year.

There is something in Italy for [00:48:00] us, so we’re excited about that.

Tucker Andis: Yeah.

Jessica Andis: And then we’re going to Florence.

I’m more excited than he is, but I don’t like German food, you know? And I wouldn’t wanna, I don’t wanna go to Germany. I don’t wanna go to London.

Tucker Andis: Yep. So we are, yeah. So we somehow, through connections, we’ll have, uh, a week free stay in Rome, which is really neat. And

Jessica Andis: it’s literally right outside the Vatican.

Like it is like a five minute walk to the Vatican. Yeah. Where we’re staying. It couldn’t work out better.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Hmm. I love that. Yeah. We were just in, I think so we were just in Italy a couple months ago. Yeah.

Jessica Andis: Oh my gosh. Love that. Love it. And if, if I would’ve gone on one of these church trips, like I would’ve been there during the last Pope, like now that like we’ve planned this, we’ll [00:49:00] hopefully get to see our American Pope Poe, Leo.

Yeah, Tucker Tucker’s not Catholic, so he is like guy, but

I’m pretty excited.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I love that. Okay. Really quick, do you have any advice for couples who are facing like long distance relationships or you know, military relationships where there’s that big distance and and time apart?

Tucker Andis: Yeah, I think the best advice is.

Going back to a lot of things that we’ve already mentioned. Uh, if you’re doing distance, have something to look forward to. And once you’re in that moment together, make sure that you have the next thing to look forward to so that when you say goodbye, it’s not goodbye. It’s, see you soon. Yeah. Uh, on top of that, having, uh, sending each other letters is always very special.

FaceTime if you’re able to, um, but always have a. A [00:50:00] deadline essentially in my, from my perspective of in your own mind, especially as, uh, the man of when you plan on proposing, when you plan on getting married, uh, when you plan on moving in together, uh, if you have these goals, especially if they’re written down and they’re established, that will happen.

Um, and you know, she just has to trust.

Jessica Andis: Yeah.

Tucker Andis: But that’s in terms of distance, I think.

Jessica Andis: Can I talk?

Tucker Andis: Of course.

Jessica Andis: Thanks. Sorry. I think as far as like eloping goes, when we moved down here, I realized that like the boat that we were in, it was pretty common. Like when, when I first eloped and then was doing the ceremony, it felt exhausting having to explain to like our friends that didn’t quite understand in our family.

I’m like, why? We’re doing it kind of backwards. But then once I got here and I was in a military environment, this happens pretty frequently and all the time. So [00:51:00] it isn’t some like weird thing that we did and it worked for us. And if it works for you, you shouldn’t feel any type of way of, of doing it that way.

Tucker Andis: Yeah. I believe it’s not, like I said previously, if, if you plan on moving in together, you have the intent. Uh, I truly believe that if you live with your spouse, you should be married. Uh, and getting eloped is, uh, the right call if that’s your intent to move in together. Uh, on top of that, getting elope just makes it a lot more stress free to plan the ceremony.

Uh, there’s no rush at that point and. You’re married, uh,

Jessica Andis: and you can’t get cold feet when you walk down the aisle ’cause you’re already married. You’re just getting super married.

Tucker Andis: Super married. But I

Dawn Pruszkowski: yay for super married. Super married.

Tucker Andis: I’ve given this advice to a few of my coworkers and a few of ’em have taken me up on it.[00:52:00]

So I have seen a few of them, uh, elope with their spouses and yeah,

Jessica Andis: I felt, I felt so happy the day after our ceremony. Um, like it, like just full joy and peace and happiness, that everything went perfectly. I will say the night after we eloped, that’s when the nerves kind of hit me and I was like, oh my gosh, what did I just do?

Like, and Tucker was sleeping next to me, sound asleep, and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, like, I hope I signed that in invisible ink. That’s gonna disappear in a couple hours. Like, I don’t know what I just did. But then it ended up blossoming into the most like beautiful thing.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Nope. It didn’t. We, I handed it right away over to the guy, my husband, who worked with the marriage license bureau.

It was done deal, baby. Right.

Tucker Andis: It was very tough. It was definitely the right thing to do.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I love it. Well, I’m [00:53:00] so glad that you came on and that you shared your beautiful story. Thank you guys so much. Thank,

Tucker Andis: thank

Jessica Andis: you. Thank you, Don. Thank you Dawn. Thank you. This was such a blessing for us to like relive everything and like talk through it.

Like it was like so fruitful for us to remember that and and strengthened our marriage to talk through it with you and prepare our hearts for this.

Dawn Pruszkowski: That’s why I think it’s so important to share love.

Tucker Andis: It is, it really is.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Every, yeah, every love story is so unique, but there is always this joy that comes and this increased love.

Yeah. That comes out. I, I, I think it’s precious.

Tucker Andis: Three and a half years ago, if you asked me what my future looked like, I couldn’t tell you that it would look anything like this. It was completely love, unexpected. And I encourage everyone to have faith and to be hopeful and to trust in God.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm. Perfect.

Well, [00:54:00] friends, remember that love can find you anywhere in the world, even as Tucker said, when you least expect it. So, hey, I wanna ask you, do you know that we’re on social media? Follow unexpected love stories on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. We post fun men on the street, interviews, photos and reels regularly, and you can comment or message to us and I guess we will write you right back.

And don’t forget to go to our website, unexpected love stories.com. And there you can learn more about Tucker and Jessica. You can see their love story pictures. Uh, you can find a link even to reach out to them. It’s all on their episode page, and that link can be found below in our show notes. Well, I hope that your heart feels lighter and full of hope after hearing this wonderful story.

You know, sometimes the best love stories are the ones we never saw coming. So keep your heart open ’cause love’s waiting for you. We’ll see you next time. [00:55:00] Bye.