How Scott Walker Fell In Love With His Wife, Tonette, Over Beer, BBQ and Karaoke

BOONE, Iowa -- Nothing says romance like sticky barbecue fingers.

Or at least that seems to be the case for Wisconsin governor and likely presidential candidate, Scott Walker, and his wife, Tonette, whose love story unfolded over karaoke nights and ribs at a Milwaukee barbecue joint.

"I met my wife at Saz’s, where they serve ribs, I proposed to her at Saz’s, and we went to Saz’s on our wedding night, so I love barbecue," Walker told a throng of reporters and voters who surrounded him as he sliced a large hunk of pork at last Saturday's "Roast and Ride," a political event featuring six other 2016 hopefuls in Iowa.

Walker said they first locked eyes at a karaoke night at Saz’s, and though they did not talk that night, Walker made his first move with a note penned on a napkin.

"'Forgive me for being rude but I've got to go home, got to get up early for work but if you want to have dinner sometime,'" Walker said he wrote.

After two days with no response, the phone call that Walker had been hoping for finally came. Walker took his future wife out on their first official date in May. And just a few months later, in August, he took her back for another karaoke night at Saz’s. But this time, he had a ring.

Walker waited for his wife-to-be to leave the bar, briefly, to make his play.

"[She] came back and I had sitting there on the bar, where we were having a drink, had a beer and had a napkin that said, 'Forgive me for being rude, but will you marry me?' and had the ring on top of it," Walker said.

Walker said he and Tonette make it a tradition to return to the barbecue joint almost every year to celebrate their anniversary on Feb. 6.

But that’s not all the Walkers are known to celebrate on their anniversary.

Feb. 6 also happens to be the birthday of former president Ronald Reagan. And every year, Walker makes a point to also celebrate deceased president’s birthday by hosting a party complete with some of Reagan’s favorite foods, including macaroni and cheese casserole and red, white, and blue jelly beans.

"Tonette jokes that I never forget our wedding anniversary because it is Reagan’s birthday," Walker wrote in his memoir.

Walker and his wife, who is 12 years his senior, celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary this year.

On the day of the anniversary this year, Walker not only tweeted out a photo of he and his wife on their wedding day in 1992 but also a happy birthday message in honor of Reagan, who would have turned 104 years old this year.