Jade & Ryan met at Northwestern University on the 1st day of Korean language class in 2006. They quickly became friends & shared a lot with each other. Jade introduced Ryan to Whole Foods Market, her seaweed sesame rice concoction, & organic foods, long before they were all the hype. Ryan introduced Jade to Patten Gym, Kemper Hall (where Jade resided junior & senior year), & delicious Indian mango during a visit to his family home in NJ. When Ryan started medical school in downtown Chicago, Jade was in the city, juggling multiple jobs including an internship at Smith Barney. During their Chicago years, they enjoyed numerous trips to Saint’s Alp Teahouse, Lao Shanghai & Chi Cafe in Chinatown as well as Bice Ristorante in Streeterville. Over the years, Jade & Ryan became close friends. They met frequently for hot pot & trips to Napa while Jade was working as a consultant with a client in Palo Alto & Ryan was in residency at Stanford. Jade then decided to pursue graduate education in Hong Kong to be close to relatives & proceeded to work at a Silicon Valley startup leading the Asia-Pacific initiative based out of her motherland. While Ryan was working in California prior to fellowship, Jade had the opportunity to visit California quarterly for work during which they became best friends & met up frequently. Over time, they decided that they would be good together over a FaceTime call on 2/11/17, while Jade had just returned to Hong Kong from a work trip in Thailand & Ryan had just completed a shift in Palo Alto. They formally became a couple surrounded by friends at karaoke in Los Angeles Koreatown on 3/11/17. After getting together prior to fellowship, Ryan had the opportunity to visit Jade in Hong Kong, during several of her work trips across cities in Asia, including Bangkok & Taipei. They enjoyed trips to Shanghai, Cambodia, Italy, & the United Kingdom before Ryan started his gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA in 7/2017 & Jade moved to Los Angeles to join him.

In 4/2017, after receiving his own parents’ blessing, Ryan traveled to Atlanta to seek Jade’s father’s blessing to marry his longtime friend Jade. He then began planning how he would propose. He wanted to ensure that Jade would be surprised and that there would be a lasting memory of the special day. He also knew that being surrounded by family would be important to Jade so he decided to plan a flash mob in Atlanta. Jade and Ryan were in Atlanta for her brother Foon’s college graduation. On Wednesday, 6/7/17, Ryan and Jade stopped at the SkyView Ferris Wheel in Downtown Atlanta, to watch what Jade thought was a street performer while the whole family was on the way to dinner. Since it was a song Jade has listened to, it was a normal and familiar song to her. It wasn’t until 15 seconds into the performance, Jade realized the song being played was not the normal pop music you would hear on the radio, but a song named “Best Friend” by Jason Chen, a YouTuber, that Jade had shared with Ryan when they got together. This was when Jade realized this was a special performance Ryan had set up for a special event, the proposal. If this wasn’t enough, ~3 mins later Jade was shocked to see her cousin, good friend, and especially her maid of honor (who flew in from Hong Kong!!!) pop up and join in on the flash mob. It was always important to Jade that her future fiancé/husband receive permission for marriage from her father. Since Ryan had received this (let’s be honest, Jade’s family adores Ryan), she said yes. :) For the curious: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMADHHs1QLk&t=127s