Ryan and Elle met on the dating app Hinge after both swiping right. They engaged in some small talk over the app before Ryan asked Elle on a date the upcoming Saturday to the Arcade Bar. Little did Elle know, Ryan had cancelled plans with his friends to go on this date. Fast forward to the date, Ryan and Elle were having a great time getting to know each other when a mystery shot appeared on their table. While Elle was surprised, Ryan secretly knew his friends had crashed their date at the bar and had sent them shots. They both took the purple mystery shots, and a little while later Ryan finally told Elle his friends were there, at which point they came up to meet Elle and say hi to Ryan. Elle immediately hit it off with Ryan's friends, and was relieved and surprised at how easy it all felt. Elle and Ryan ended their date with burritos at D'Leon's before heading home. Elle and Ryan have spent almost every day since then together, quickly getting the feeling that this was something that could easily last a lifetime.

Elle and Ryan knew pretty quickly they were each other's forever person and would eventually get married. The big question was when. Elle was using her grandma's diamond for her wedding ring and had shown Ryan exactly what she wanted her ring to look like. Now, Ryan just had to put it all together. Ryan went to Elle's parents a couple months before the proposal to ask for their permission to marry Elle. He barely got the words out before they quickly exclaimed "YES!". Once Ryan had the ring in his possession, he sent it off to the jewelers to get put in its new setting, later hiding it in the basement ceiling tiles to make sure Elle never saw it. The weekend before the proposal, Elle told Ryan she was making plans to go to Kansas City with friends the following weekend and needed to move their date night. Ryan was usually flexible, but quickly told Elle it couldn't be moved. Little did she know, Ryan was working hard behind the scenes to coordinate a proposal and engagement party with a photographer and a bunch of their friends and family. The day of the proposal, Elle and Ryan made dinner at home before heading out to get ice cream at Zesto. The temperature that day was close to 100 degrees, so after a quick ice cream trip Elle wanted to get in the car and head downtown to get drinks, as planned. However, Ryan had to stall because he still had another 30 minutes before their photographer would be at the Sunken Gardens where the proposal was going to take place. Ryan asked Elle if she wanted to stay and hang out at Zesto outside, but got a quick "no" from her given the temperature. So he had to go to plan B, where he stopped to get a gas station water before driving her past apartments he had painted. He could tell she wasn't too interested in that, and offered to stop at Sunken Gardens as it was finally time for the proposal. Elle started to get suspicious of Ryan as they were walking through the Sunken Gardens and he wasn't saying anything. She stopped to find the brick with her and her siblings' names on it, and after a little while of looking, Ryan asked if they could move on and look for it later, the nerves getting the best of him. She agreed, and when they turned the corner their photographer was waiting to capture the big moment. Ryan tried positioning Elle so the photographer could get a better shot, then got down on one knee and said a quick "will you marry me?" before Elle started crying and pulled him up for a hug, mumbling many yes's along the way. They laughed, cried, hugged, and were both in a little bit of shock that they were officially engaged. Afterwards, they took a few pictures before heading to both sets of parent's houses, calling family and friends during the drive to tell them the big news. Ryan surprised Elle with an engagement party at her parent's house the following day with all their family and friends. It was a blissful weekend full of surprises, excitement, and a whole lot of love. We can't wait to celebrate again with everyone in May. Here come the Kroekers!