{"id":156310,"date":"2026-02-15T12:11:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/156310\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T12:11:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:11:29","slug":"fsu-sweethearts-balance-careers-faith-wedding-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/156310\/","title":{"rendered":"FSU sweethearts balance careers, faith, wedding plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Maggie Gahan and John Wallace, it wasn\u2019t love at first sight, or the second, or the next dozen or so. There was even an interlude where she was a bit peeved at him.<\/p>\n

But in their case, familiarity bred not contempt, but connection. After Wallace, 24, graduated from Florida State University, the timing was right \u2014 and they\u2019re happily headed to the altar in December.<\/p>\n

They met at a leadership banquet at FSU when Gahan, 23, was a freshman and Wallace was a sophomore. \u201cWe were friends, but not super close friends. We had so many mutual friends,\u201d he explained. One of those was JP Gutierrez III, Wallace\u2019s fraternity brother who became a good friend to them separately and served as a low-key Cupid in their relationship. More on that later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the same executive board, ran in the same circles,\u201d Gahan continued, \u201cbut then you kind of went and did your thing and I did my thing and we would talk every now and then, but not super seriously for like a year or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

That executive board was where Gahan\u2019s opinion of her future husband ticked downward. The board met at 8 a.m. and Wallace was often a no-show.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was just like, where is this kid? Why has he not been showing up? I\u2019m like, if you\u2019re going to be on this board, you\u2019ve got to do your job. And he wasn\u2019t coming, so I was not very happy,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

After Wallace graduated, she learned that he was attending a state and local government economics class scheduled at the same time, and all was forgiven.<\/p>\n

While he was working post-graduation in the Senate Majority Office and Gahan was in her last year of college, they started dating. As Gahan neared graduation, Wallace strategized a bit and dropped a flea in Gahan\u2019s ear about calling Red Hills Strategies<\/a> President\/Owner Amanda Bevis to ask about the possibility of an internship at the communications shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had not a plan in my mind to stay here after I graduated, but then I started working for Amanda my senior year and a month in, she\u2019s like, \u2018You\u2019re staying\u2019. And I loved it. When I graduated, I was like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m not leaving.\u2019 Sorry, Dad, no D.C. for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gahan is now a director at Bevis\u2019 consultancy, doing Process-adjacent communications work. Notably, she played an integral part in the passage of Lucy\u2019s Law, which toughened Florida\u2019s boating safety laws, increasing the penalties for reckless operation and boating under the influence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wallace is the Campaign Manager for Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia<\/a>, who is running to retain the position he was appointed to by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2025. Of note, Wallace works alongside Gutierrez, who is a special assistant in Ingoglia\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

As with any couple involved in campaigns, their wedding is set for after Election Day. Even their engagement was wrapped up in politics. The week before their planned vacation at the beaches of 30A, where Wallace planned to pop the question, he was asked to interview for his current job in Tampa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the span of 10 days we went from \u2026 leaving that job to getting engaged to working in a new job,\u201d Gahan reported. \u201cIt was adventure whiplash.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a side note, JP (also Wallace\u2019s best man) got engaged 30 days after them and will be getting married in January, 30 days after the newly minted Wallaces.<\/p>\n

Their honeymoon plans aren\u2019t totally set yet, but for their first international trip they will head to Rome to be blessed by the first American Pope.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we\u2019ll do London and I think Switzerland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go the weeks of Christmas and New Year\u2019s, when everything\u2019s decorated with the Christmas markets,\u201d Gahan added.<\/p>\n

A fundamental part of their relationship is their Catholic faith, although they came to it in very different ways.<\/p>\n

Gahan describes herself as a \u201ccradle Catholic,\u201d who didn\u2019t attend mass during her freshman year. Wallace was a constantly moving military brat with a Catholic mother. He only sporadically went to church growing up.<\/p>\n

While in college, he had an \u201cextremely devout\u201d roommate. \u201cHe started getting me to go to mass with him,\u201d Wallace said, and he was confirmed while still at FSU. Gutierrez was his sponsor.<\/p>\n

Their faith is \u201csuper equally important to both of us but in very different ways,\u201d he said. \u201cI get a lot more theological.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their wedding, \u201che\u2019s like, \u2018Can we say the Our Father in Latin?\u2019 I\u2019m like, I\u2019ve never heard that in my life,\u201d Gahan said.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, both have taught catechism classes at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More<\/a> \u2014 where they\u2019ll be getting married. She teaches third, fourth and fifth graders, he teaches confirmation classes to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019re in Tallahassee, we\u2019re just trying to be very synced into the community. So, going to local coffee shops or restaurants or seeing friends who are in town, especially right now,\u201d Gahan said.<\/p>\n

For dining out, they often choose Savour or take a short trip to Thomasville to eat at Jonah\u2019s Fish & Grits. But her \u201cabsolute favorite\u201d restaurant is Black Radish. \u201cI love that you can sit at the chef\u2019s counter. It\u2019s like watching a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say between work, travel and seeing friends, most of our time is occupied,\u201d Gahan commented. \u201cEventually we\u2019ll have a dog in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just to set the record straight, Wallace would like us to know he\u2019s not the one who\u2019s anti-dog. It\u2019s their landlord and, while tempted, his fianc\u00e9\u2019s not willing to take a chance and sneak a pup in their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit too much of a rule follower, but if I wasn\u2019t, I would totally have had a dog by now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Maggie Gahan and John Wallace, it wasn\u2019t love at first sight, or the second, or the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[75044,2855,75045,75046,75047,232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-156310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-amanda-bevis","9":"tag-blaise-ingoglia","10":"tag-john-wallace","11":"tag-maggie-gahan","12":"tag-red-hills-strategies","13":"tag-tallahassee","14":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","15":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}