Love can be found in mysterious places, even in the political atmosphere of the Student Government Association senate chambers. 

Nicki Taylor, Crofton senior, currently serves as the SGA president, a role she never thought she’d have. 

“I’m just another student like everyone else. I just talk on behalf and advocate for issues on behalf of all the other students here at WKU,” she said.

She also never expected to assume the role of a wife during college.

Taylor married her fiancé Travis Taylor, a WKU graduate student from Beaver Dam, on Sept. 28, 2014.  Originally the two had plans for a big wedding in Muhlenberg County, but both said the process was a trying one.

“Planning for it was stressful, especially for two people in school,” Travis Taylor said.

But before the stress of a wedding, engagements and dating life, the two met in an ordinary fashion— at school. 

Nicki Taylor first noticed her husband-to-be at a WKU basketball game in 2012.

“I say that I noticed him and thought, ‘Oh, wow he’s really cute’ and all that stuff at that game, but he doesn’t remember me being there which is really funny,” Nicki Taylor said. 

Travis Taylor admitted he didn’t notice her at first, but talked to her  for the first time when SGA took a group photo at the Colonnade in April 2012.

Nicki Taylor said he messaged her on Facebook later that night very formally, introducing himself as the ‘current Director of Academic and Student Affairs at SGA.’ She described it as “the most cheesy but sweet thing ever.”

“If I wasn’t in SGA, I probably wouldn’t have met her,” Travis Taylor said. 

Fast-forward almost two years of dating, and the two were formally engaged and planning a wedding.

Stressed emotionally, physically and financially, the couple decided to elope in Florida. They honeymooned at the beach and Walt Disney World. Travis Taylor said despite eloping the two are still the “same amount of married,” and his wife agreed.

“We don’t regret it because it was perfect,” Nicki Taylor said. 

Nolan Miles, Bardstown senior, said he has known Nicki since their senior year of high school. Both embarked on their SGA journey at the same time. He believes Nicki has done an amazing job balancing school, SGA and her personal life, allowing her to excel in all three. 

“I believe much can be learned from Nicki in the sense that school and development should be a priority in WKU students life, but we should not sacrifice our own social life and personal aspirations— that is what is most important,” Miles said in an email. 

The couple said that despite their workload as students, and other commitments, their marriage hasn’t changed anything in regards to outside activities.

“It makes us more appreciative of our time,” Travis Taylor said.

Nicki Taylor said there’s no strange pressure or magic that suddenly comes with being married.

“People ask me, ‘How’s married life?’ and my answer is, ‘Not different, but in a good way,’” Nicki Taylor said.