We met at Western Illinois University dorm building of Bayliss in the fall of 2015. Started off as friends that would occasionally grab lunch together. Fortunately, Mercedes' love language was food. Coincidentally Diego worked at the food hall and would always show her a little extra love whenever she came to his station. The unplanned lunch dates turned into hangouts, which eventually turned into real dates. As we began to explore our interest we discovered that we both love music and share a passion for concert-going and fashion. After 6 years of food dates, music festivals, and retail therapy we traveled to Diego's native country, Peru. We made our way to one of the 7 Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu, where we got engaged in November of 2022.