Fredericksburg Natives to Wed After Seven Years

While Lindsey Behrends and Jake Duderstadt have been “High School Sweethearts” for over seven years, their story began in a fifth-grade classroom.

Both grew up in Fredericksburg, and attended Stonewall Elementary School, outside of town.

Years later, after attending separate middle schools, they reunited in a freshman-level geography class at Fredericksburg High School.

“We sat close to one another and just talked every day. We would snapchat and text. We were really immature high school kids,” Behrends said.

Their relationship blossomed among the plethora of summer festivals and events in Gillespie County. Like any quintessential young couple in classic movies, Behrends and Duderstadt danced together at the small-town Stonewall Peach Jamboree and Rodeo in June of 2014, and rode the Ferris wheel at the county fair later that summer.

On Oct. 3 that year, Duderstadt “nervously sat in the stands” while Behrends competed for the volleyball team. Afterward, he brought her a volleyball with the question, “Girlfriend?” written on its surface. For the next three years, the two were each other’s built-in date for homecomings, prom and other hometown events.

“I don’t ever remember really thinking that we’d get married, but I also didn’t think we weren’t going to get married,” Behrends said. “It was kind of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ We were just so young.”

Senior year, the Class of 2017 crowned Behrends and Duderstadt with the “High School Sweethearts” superlative, and the couple’s title is preserved in the pages of that year’s FHS yearbook The Mesa.

Both hailing from life-long Texas A&M University Aggie families, the couple then attended the university. While Behrends said they were “always strong” in high school, their relationship was forged into one strong enough to evolve with the inevitable life changes that the college years brought.

“It’s been really special that since we’ve grown up together, we’ve been in each life stage together,” Behrends said. “As we came to college, we changed so much in our goals. It’s cool to see how we’ve done so independently, so that we can come together and serve one another better once we become one.”

Duderstadt agreed.

“We’ve been together longer than some people have been friends, and we’ve been best friends,” he said.

Lindsey Behrends and Jake Duderstadt

“In college, now it’s every day that I see her, and there’s all the memories that we’ve made … It’s pushed us to be better for each other.”

The Engagement

Behrends said that by sophomore year of college, the two knew they would one day be married. A year after that, they were making serious plans to bring that to fruition. By the end of their final year at Texas A&M, Duderstadt popped the question on a sunny April evening last year.

“I really wasn’t nervous because I knew she was going to say yes,” Duderstadt said. “I was more nervous that the details wouldn’t line out. But whenever she got there, I knew it was a done deal, and that I just needed to remember what I had rehearsed in my head and to not drop the ring.”

While Behrends knows Duderstadt through and through, she said she didn’t suspect a thing until she pulled into her family ranch and saw hints he’d left along the road.

“I was literally the most excited person ever,” she said. “It was a complete surprise. We drove up and my heart just dropped, and I realized it was finally happening. I was so excited to see what was to come and what he had planned.” Every couple’s love story is special in its own way — but the long-time sweethearts have a special bond and history that they will take into their new stage in life. “I’ve not only had (Jake) as a best friend for the past seven years, but also someone who has visibly been able to see almost everything that has gone on in my life,” Behrends said. “We’ve just had so much life together that we’re going into marriage having really passionate hearts.” Both Behrends, a freelance photographer, and Duderstadt, a soon-to-be bank manager, are currently finishing master’s

programs at Texas A&M. Both said that finding a house, coordinating job offers and other challenges that come with merging two lives have been the hardest part of being engaged. Behrends said that otherwise, their engagement has been “seamless and sweet.”

“We’ve grown even closer than we ever have been before, which seemed impossible because we were so close before,” she said. “But we’ve just learned how to serve and love one another even better. The Lord’s been really faithful in showing us how to do that.”

“I Do” with a View

The Hill Country boasts elegant rustic venues, top-notch wineries and stunning scenery that attract people from all over the country. The Fredericksburg natives wouldn’t have their wedding anywhere else.

“It’s a hometown-feel of a wedding, while still having the opportunity to have it at a destination-type venue,” Duderstadt said. “And if we had it anywhere else, we wouldn’t be able to have all of our friends and family there, because we’ve got such a big network and such a big community and home team right behind us who have been a part of our relationship.”

Behrends and Duderstadt will exchange vows on May 21 at Featherstone Ranch, just five miles from the elementary school where their paths first crossed.

“We worked in Stonewall together, and we did all these things together so it’s like reliving those memories throughout our wedding day,” Behrends said. “And those people who made such an impact on our lives throughout our entire relationship are being able to have a front row seat to that at our wedding. Everything will come together in one place.”

High School Sweethearts