Marty & McGee surprise Mizzou couple with tickets to SEC Championship Game
By David Wasson
Published:
If you had “Marty Smith and Ryan McGee give wedding gifts” on your 2025 college football bingo card, Saturday was your lucky day.
The SEC Nation analysts interviewed Missouri fans Abbey Whisnant and Gunner Western about their decision to get married in October — unquestionably college football’s busiest month that also is traditionally a prime wedding month.
“It was actually the only weekend we could pick in October that we picked that didn’t have a football game,” Wisenant said of her impending Oct. 25 nuptials. “And my mom did tell me my dad probably would not come if we chose another weekend.”
Smith and McGee kindly overlooked the fact that the couple, who said they met online while students at Mizzou, failed to notice that the Tigers play at No. 20 Vanderbilt on their wedding day – so much so that they offered a gift to the newlyweds-to-be: SEC Championship Game tickets.
“We love to celebrate love… so McGee and I decided to write vows for you,” Smith said as the familiar strains of “Here Comes The Bride” atoned in the background on set. “I have written Abby’s vows to Gunner, and McGee has written Abby’s vows to Gunner.”
The two then read the slightly cheesy vows to each other, and as a way to seal the ceremony Smith and McGee gave the couple tickets to the 2025 SEC Championship Game on Dec. 6. It is unclear if Whisnant had included that trip to Atlanta on her bridal registry.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
