I accepted a job in Chicago and they asked me if I could move/start in 2 weeks. I didn't want to live alone, so I decided to room in blind. My roommate at the time had an older brother in the city (Kyle Fasel). We decided to go over to his place. Kyle was roommates with Zane. The first time I saw Zane there was about 15 people in their apartment. I didn’t even introduce myself but he did catch my eye that night. I knew at some point I would see him again. A couple weeks later we all decided to go out to the bar. We get to the bar and Zane and I ended up talking and what I assume hitting it off. By the end of the night I asked my roommate for his number. I get the courage to text him the next day. He asked me out on our first date to a restaurant called Tanta. During our date we got to the topic of families. I told him I was from Holland, MI and he told me his parents went to Hope College and his grandparents had a lake house there. We then went on to talking about our hobbies and careers. We had so much in common! And from there our relationship took off.

Zane had purchased the ring in Nov of 2019. We had plans to fly to Europe in May of 2020. Zane originally wanted to propose in Paris but he knew I would want to celebrate our engagement with the people that mean the most to me. So he changed his proposal plan. Zane then started planning out his proposal in Chicago with the help of my twin sister Bonnie. He was planning to have our family and friends drive/fly in for an engagement party right after the proposal and then we would have an engagement moon in Europe shortly after. Then Covid-19 hit and changed his plans. He then decided last minute that he wanted to propose to me in Holland,MI. He asked me if I wanted to go the beach to catch the sunset at Holland State Park. We walked along the shore and we were discussing what our perfect home would look like. As we were heading back to find a spot to watch the sunset he got down on one knee and proposed. But there was another surprise my favorite photographer was at the beach incognito and captured everything!