FSU sweethearts balance careers, faith, wedding plans

For Maggie Gahan and John Wallace, it wasn’t 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.

But in their case, familiarity bred not contempt, but connection. After Wallace, 24, graduated from Florida State University, the timing was right — and they’re happily headed to the altar in December.

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

“We were on the same executive board, ran in the same circles,” Gahan continued, “but 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.”

That executive board was where Gahan’s opinion of her future husband ticked downward. The board met at 8 a.m. and Wallace was often a no-show.

“I was just like, where is this kid? Why has he not been showing up? I’m like, if you’re going to be on this board, you’ve got to do your job. And he wasn’t coming, so I was not very happy,” she recalled.

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.

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’s ear about calling Red Hills Strategies President/Owner Amanda Bevis to ask about the possibility of an internship at the communications shop.

“I 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’s like, ‘You’re staying’. And I loved it. When I graduated, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not leaving.’ Sorry, Dad, no D.C. for me.”

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

Wallace is the Campaign Manager for Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, 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’s campaign.

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.

“In the span of 10 days we went from … leaving that job to getting engaged to working in a new job,” Gahan reported. “It was adventure whiplash.”

On a side note, JP (also Wallace’s best man) got engaged 30 days after them and will be getting married in January, 30 days after the newly minted Wallaces.

Their honeymoon plans aren’t totally set yet, but for their first international trip they will head to Rome to be blessed by the first American Pope.

“And then we’ll do London and I think Switzerland,” he said.

“We’re going to go the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s, when everything’s decorated with the Christmas markets,” Gahan added.

A fundamental part of their relationship is their Catholic faith, although they came to it in very different ways.

Gahan describes herself as a “cradle Catholic,” who didn’t 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.

While in college, he had an “extremely devout” roommate. “He started getting me to go to mass with him,” Wallace said, and he was confirmed while still at FSU. Gutierrez was his sponsor.

Their faith is “super equally important to both of us but in very different ways,” he said. “I get a lot more theological.”

For their wedding, “he’s like, ‘Can we say the Our Father in Latin?’ I’m like, I’ve never heard that in my life,” Gahan said.

For the past three years, both have taught catechism classes at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More — where they’ll be getting married. She teaches third, fourth and fifth graders, he teaches confirmation classes to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.

“While we’re in Tallahassee, we’re 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,” Gahan said.

For dining out, they often choose Savour or take a short trip to Thomasville to eat at Jonah’s Fish & Grits. But her “absolute favorite” restaurant is Black Radish. “I love that you can sit at the chef’s counter. It’s like watching a show.”

“I would say between work, travel and seeing friends, most of our time is occupied,” Gahan commented. “Eventually we’ll have a dog in the mix.”

Just to set the record straight, Wallace would like us to know he’s not the one who’s anti-dog. It’s their landlord and, while tempted, his fiancé’s not willing to take a chance and sneak a pup in their home.

“I’m a little bit too much of a rule follower, but if I wasn’t, I would totally have had a dog by now,” she said.