Grace and Brent met through Match.com, and “who winked first” is still the fun question. Both believe that they winked first, so the joking continues. Their first date was Saturday, May 23, 2015, and they met at 2nd Cousins (now Fozzy's Bar & Grill) in Loves Park, Illinois. They continued their date at the Young at Heart Festival, a yearly Memorial Day celebration. That next week they went on a date every night and quickly began to fall for each other. In February 2016, after 9 months of dating, Grace moved in with Brent; conveniently, Brent was at a dental convention in Chicago, so Grace redecorated his house. Grace did a wonderful job and made the house into a home. However, Brent still questions why Grace moved the foosball table from the dining room to the basement!

After Brent and Grace had been dating about three years, Brent started to consider different proposal options. He wanted to keep it simple as a big scene was just not them. One cold, November night after dinner, Grace and Brent were sitting on the couch when Brent started talking about marriage. Continuing, he stated he did not want to spend his life with anyone else but Grace, and he asked if Grace would marry him. The wonderful, mushy details will stay between Grace and Brent; too bad! Grace, of course, tearfully accepted, and they decided to design the engagement ring together that coming Saturday. Yes, on purpose, he proposed without a ring!! The Secret This special moment happened on November 26, 2018. Grace and Brent kept their engagement a secret for nearly a month, as they did not want to make the announcement until a ring was on her finger. Grace’s ring, designed by the owner of Zavius Jewelers (Luis), would be ready just before Christmas on December 20th. On December 22nd, Grace and Brent had Christmas with Brent's parents and his brother and sister-in-law. For each couple, Grace and Brent made gift boxes that had matching wine glasses in them. In Brent's family, these silly gifts are called "tchotchkes", so it was not odd that Grace and Brent had a tchotchke that needed to be opened during cocktail hour. When the couples simultaneously opened their gifts, they saw the printed message on the glasses— “We’re Engaged”!! Now there was another reason to celebrate that evening. Grace's family learned of the engagement two days later on Christmas Eve, her family’s Christmas celebration, just before dinner. Grandpa Jerry was so excited he did not stop dancing the entire night. Many cheers, tears, and hugs were shared over the holidays! Brent and Grace wanted their immediate families to get the news first; therefore, Christmas Day was when other family members and friends found out via Facebook.