Sandy & Kyle in Petoskey, MI

Michigan’s cold winters have a way of bringing people closer -- a fact that California-native Sandy learned the happy way during her second semester at the University of Michigan. Sandy was lucky enough to fall in with a tight-knit group from the small town of Frankenmuth, the home of her future husband, Kyle. The Bride Sandy Huerta, 25, insurance underwriter The Groom Kyle Bierlein, 26, auto sales manager The Date July 3 Four years later, while Sandy was dog-sitting alone at his parents’ house, Kyle arranged a surprise proposal. Unbeknownst to her, he turned off the power. “My cell phone rang, and thankfully it was Kyle,” remembers a scared Sandy. He told her to go outside to find the circuit box. On the way, she noticed a string, tied to the back door, which led to a balcony and then dropped over the edge. “I pulled the string up, and the ring was attached,” she says. “The lights went on and Kyle stepped out from under the balcony, got on his knee, and proposed in the snow!” A year and a half later, the couple left winter behind at a garden-party wedding in July.