Jill & Kevin in Louisville, KY

One winter evening in 1999, Jill Reading and Kevin Abell let their friends Penny and Darren Bradshaw play matchmaker. It was a Greek thing -- at Western Kentucky University, Penny and Jill had been sorority sisters, while Kevin and Darren were in the same fraternity. He called me the next day and we talked for three hours, remembers the bride. He was so funny, he just kind of grew on me. THE BRIDE Jill Reading, 26, advertising coordinator THE GROOM Kevin Abell, 25, marketing specialist THE DATE July 1 By spring, Jill and Kevin, huge fans of horse racing, were going out regularly on dates to Churchill Downs. Living in Derby City, you really can't help it, laughs Jill. I think our best dates were at the track. In addition to constantly making her laugh, Kevin taught Jill the fine points of handicapping (decoding and analyzing the information on race programs to bet on horses strategically, instead of according to emotional instinct or the sound of a horse's name). That July, though, it was all about emotional instinct. After a romantic dinner at a restaurant in downtown Louisville, as the two were walking along the Ohio River, Kevin suddenly dropped to one knee and proposed. Right then, down the river, some fireworks began to explode in the sky. We both looked at each other, remembers Jill. Then Kevin said, 'I'm good, but I'm not that good.'