If we told you we met in some glamorous, romantic location; we'd be lying. Flashback to Valentine’s Day 2014: Abby and Ian are entering their second semester of freshman year at Ithaca College. Abby is a Vocal Performance major, and Ian is majoring in Integrated Marketing and Communications. We run in very different circles, but luckily, somehow end up at the same party. We're packed in like a can of sardines amongst our peers in the unfinished basement of an off-campus theatre majors house. Ian, overstimulated by the crowd, aimlessly navigating his way around, settles on a corner with, remarkably, another dude named Ian. Abby, however, is on a mission. She's known about Ian for a couple of weeks now, through mutual friends who loved to sing his praises. Unbeknownst to Ian, Abby found his Facebook and Twitter profiles, and began to engage in some ~light~ stalking. All it took was one look at his profile picture: sunglasses, cool outfit, leaning against a wall... she was fully in love. And, if you know Abby, you know she really means it when she says this. Abby couldn't shake the feeling that she would meet Ian that Valentine's night, and was ready to go get her man. Ian continues his conversation with other Ian, and out of nowhere he locks eyes with a gorgeous curly-haired brunette he will soon come to know as Abby. "Are you Ian Sweeney?" she asks. Ian, feeling simultaneously stunned and incredibly powerful, answers yes, and so our love story begins. We were pretty much inseparable after that moment. Ian invited Abby to hang out in his dorm room the day after the Valentine's party. She sat on his desk chair and he offered her a homemade raspberry jam cookie that his mom sent in a care package. Sitting there, they listened to music and learned about each other, and suddenly, as clear as if someone had said it out loud, an intrusive thought came to Abby's mind: "If nothing goes wrong, we'll be together forever". They went on to utter their first "I love you's" three weeks after meeting each other, and the rest is history. Through their 11 years together, Ian and Abby have been just that: together. They've grown and learned and evolved in so many ways. There simply is no Ian without Abby, or Abby without Ian. We've become true best friends, twin flames, soulmates. Flash forward to September 2023. Ian and Abby are sitting on a park bench enjoying the scenic views of sunset at Giardino delle rose in Florence, Italy. It's always been Abby's dream to visit Italy with Ian. Blissfully unaware of his lack of coyness, Ian points to some random statue in the distance, hoping to distract Abby long enough for him to kneel down and present a ring. Abby, catching onto what's about to happen, turns as dramatically and slowly as she can to "look at that cool statue in the distance". When she turns back around, Ian pops the question, and Abby laughs exclaiming: "Yes. Obviously." With almost a decade separating these two events, many things had changed. The one thing that remained the same? In each of these respective moments, Ian and Abby knew with 100% certainty they would be together forever.