The first time we met was a school year kickoff event for one of the bible studies we both attended during our time at Ferris. That night we made many mutual friends, spent time on the water tubing and played games as a group. Before we all went back to our dorms/apartments we made sure to exchange Snapchats. This kicked off a year of eating lunch with our friends nearly everyday and finding common interests.

After a summer full of talking and finding reasons to see each other, we FINALLY had our first date at the Indiana State Fair when Brendan visited Sydney during her internship. That weekend was full of awkward will-they won’t-theys, strawberry mentos, holding hands on fair rides and eating donuts after church. At the end of the weekend we agreed to go on another date once we were back at Ferris and just see how things go.

Once back at school we went on a handful of dates around Big Rapids before deciding to make our relationship official. We spent the rest of the school year growing closer together, meeting each other's friends and families and trying to figure out what our future would hold. Fortunately when it came time to move back home for the summer, Sydney got a job in Grand Rapids so we could still be close and not have to navigate being long distance on top of our growing relationship.

A few years, many memories and a handful of challenges later, we were both sure that we wanted this to last forever. So when the time came we set out for a nice dinner in Holland… until we ran out of gas on the way. After a quick call to grandpa and a cancelled dinner reservation, we instead had a picnic on the water. From there we set off for the park where Brendan had the proposal set up. After an easy ‘yes’, we grabbed a celebratory coffee and started this new adventure.