Isaac and Heather met in graduate school at Purdue University. Isaac started the semester after Heather and they had a few classes together. One day after class, Heather asked Isaac to lunch with her and some friends. If you ask Heather, she'll say she made the first move. If you ask Isaac, it was all a part of his plan. They were just friends for almost a year before they started dating.

Heather got accepted to attend a scientific conference in Lindau, Germany in June 2017. Since she was overseas anyway, she decided it would be fun to explore a little bit, and Isaac agreed. After a few days in Izmir, Turkey with family, Heather and Isaac made it to Milos, Greece for a little vacation, just the two of them. One day, they hiked to the highest point on the island, where there was an old church and a beautiful 360 view of the island at the top. In the distance they saw a gorgeous turquoise blue beach. They took a selfie with the view in the background, looked up where they thought the beach might be on the map, and hiked back down the mountain. After all that work, Isaac decided it was time for a beach day and Heather never says no to a beach day. They hopped on the ATV (the preferred method of transportation for an island that's only 14 miles long and 8 miles wide) and tried to find the beach they had seen at the top of the mountain. Isaac was adamant that they find that beach. Heather just shrugged and wondered why they couldn't stop at any of the other gorgeous beaches they were passing. When they finally found it, they went swimming in the warm, crystal clear water. When soon after they got in Isaac said he wanted to get out, Heather got suspicious. Isaac never wants to leave the water, especially when it is so perfect! She eventually agreed with the promise of beer. Over a couple of Coronas, sitting on a beautiful beach, and looking out into the blue water, Isaac pulled a little blue box out of the backpack and asked Heather to marry him!

In September of 2017, Heather graduated from Purdue and moved to San Diego, CA for her postdoctoral research fellowship. Isaac was not quite finished with his dissertation yet, and stayed behind at Purdue to complete his program. After 9 months of over 2000 miles between them, Isaac finished his dissertation, graduated, and moved to San Diego too! When Spring 2020 rolled around, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the postponement of many weddings. While we kept our fingers crossed ours would be spared, ultimately we decided it was safest for everyone to postpone to 2021.