It's a tale as old as time...Jake's best friends from elementary/middle/high school all married Haley's best friends from college and the two of them spent so much time hanging out with that group together, they decided it would be easier if they just got married too. That's the general gist of it, but read on below if you are interested in the details: Jake had a core group of close family friends growing up, including Matt, Alex, Sav, AJ, and Kevin. Haley had a core group of close girlfriends in college, including Mady, Kenzie, Sarah, Hannah, Claire, and Little S. Alex and Mady, who had been dating since high school, brought the two groups together during college and the years after. Although there is no definitive date on when the two of them met, there were many times from 2015 - 2016 that Jake and Haley found themselves at the same party/event/get-together. They were friendly and talked to each other, but they did not keep in touch aside from these events. Jake's best friend since he was 5, Matt, and Haley's best friend from Marquette, Sarah, hit it off immediately at these events and they got engaged in 2016. Jake and Haley were both in their wedding party. This is where their story really starts.

At Matt and Sarah's rehearsal dinner in July 2017, Jake and Haley ended up once again talking to each other. But this time, they didn't stop. Matt tells the story as "even though it was my wedding weekend and I was bouncing around the room all night, I couldn't help but notice the two of you talking all night long." After the rehearsal ended, Jake and Haley realized his hotel was right by her apartment, so they walked back together. They stopped into the Swingin' Door Saloon and had another drink or two along the way. There were lots of laughs, smiles, and maybe even a goodnight kiss before they parted ways that night. From 2017 - 2018, Haley and Jake continued to orbit each other's lives, occasionally colliding whenever Jake would come back to visit his friends (visits which noticeably became more frequent after Matt and Sarah's wedding). The two of them continued to get along well as friends, but still were not keeping in touch whenever Jake went back to Madison, where he was living. That is, until Jake quit his job at Epic...

Jake quit his job at Epic in August of 2018, a week or so before Haley and Hannah had a trip planned to visit Matt and Sarah, who had moved out to Oregon earlier that year, and Claire, who had moved there the previous year for school. Jake texted Haley asking what her flights out were. Haley responded and minutes later Jake sent her back a screenshot confirming his flights for the exact same week. Hannah, Clare, and Sarah thought it was perfect, because now Matt had a friend coming as well and would not be subjected to girl talk all week long. Haley thought it was perfect for those reasons too, but she couldn't help but notice the butterflies that magically appeared in her stomach. So they flew out west, and had a great time hiking, drinking, and playing cards all week long. Haley and Jake talked constantly, and Jake informed Haley that he was moving back to Milwaukee to live with Alex for a little bit while he worked on his ambulance (that is a story for another time). He said they should hang out while he was there. Since Haley was always at their house hanging out with Mady and Kenzie anyways, it made sense that they would see each other there. At first, they hung out with Mady and Alex, and Sav, and Kenzie and Kevin who had recently started dating as well. The group got along great, and the close friendships between everyone made it feel natural. There was lots of climbing, Santa Rampage-ing, and dinners and drinks shared between the crew. Then Jake started asking Haley if she wanted to run with him some nights. After dating for 3.5 years. Haley has seen Jake run exactly one time, but in the weeks leading up to their first date they ran together once a week or so...almost like Jake had some external motivation to running besides personal fitness? One night In November, Jake went climbing by himself and texted Haley asking if she wanted to grab a drink after. Just the two of them, not with the group. It was 9 PM (on a school night!!) but Haley's roommate Mallory talked her into going anyways. Jake and Haley went to Up Down, and had a blast drinking beer, playing arcade games, and just getting to know each other outside of the big group they always hung out in. It felt just like that night after Matt and Sarah's rehearsal dinner the year before: fun. Haley had been planning another trip to visit Matt and Sarah, for their annual Friends Trip, and Jake decided he wanted to tag along. For the week between Christmas and New Years, the 4 of them spent more time drinking, hiking, and laughing, and Matt and Sarah were quick to ask both Jake and Haley whenever they were alone with one of them "are you guys dating??" "what's the deal??" "it would be so fun if you guys dated!" After ringing in the New Year on top of a bluff looking down at the fireworks, Jake and Haley came back to Milwaukee. They both knew they were dating at that point, they just hadn't said the words yet. With Jake leaving for his ambulance trip in just a week, they were not sure where to leave things, but they both said they wanted to keep hanging out when Jake got back.

Jake left in his ambulance (seriously I am not going into it, ask him if you are curious) the first week of January with no idea when he would be back. Haley knew he was going on an adventure and did not want to bug him too much, but they talked pretty regularly while he was gone and shared lots of memes and podcasts with each other (thanks Suze and Mitch for the AFE recommendation!). By the end of February, Jake decided to come back - for one because the ambulance was not doing so great and a flat tire was the tipping point on a long list of issues, and for two because he jammed his thumb while snowboarding one day and didn't really think he could go much longer, but for three because he missed Haley and the fun they had been having together. He came back the first weekend of March, and started looking for a place to live in Milwaukee with Sav. On March 30th, Jake organized a group to get together and attend the Brewer's Opening Day game. He asked his friends from Madison to come, and Haley got to meet that crew for the first time. Haley also invited her sister and some of their friends, whom Jake got to meet as well. After a slight misstep with parking the car, the tailgate and game were a success and everyone got along great. At a bar that night after the game, Haley ran into some old friends from high school. She introduced them to Jake, and one of the girls asked "is this your boyfriend?" Haley and Jake both looked at each other and smiled then Haley said "Yes, my boyfriend Jake!" And that is the day they celebrate as their official "anniversary," even though they had been unofficially dating for like 5 months by this point.

The next 3.5 years were a blur: meeting and hanging out with every combination of friends and family imaginable (the Bishes, the 1012 crew, the Madison crew, the Huntley XC boys, the Loprienos, the Ziebarts, the extended families, Jules, gosh we have so many amazing friends!!!), Jake moving in with Haley in May 2020, going to numerous concerts together (Jade Bird, Miley, Mac DeMarco, Liz Coop, Kesha, Fall Out Boy/Green Day/Weezer, etc.), going on trips to Mexico (twice), the Bahamas, California, and Minneapolis (a few times), and just cuddling and watching tons of movies and TV shows on the couch together. One weekend in August 2021, Jake and Haley went camping at Devil's Lake in Baraboo, WI. It was over 100 degrees the entire weekend long, so they got up early Saturday morning to get a hike in before it got too hot for Jake. Turns out 9 AM is too hot for Jake. By the time they made it up the West Bluff, they were drenched in sweat. Jake found a spot with a good view and wanted to take a picture. "That's weird," Haley thought, "Jake is never the one to want to take a picture." He got to work setting up his phone against his backpack, allegedly putting it on a timer so he could run over and get in the picture. What Haley didn't know is that he actually put his phone on video and started recording. He walked over to her and posed like they were taking a picture. After a few seconds he kissed her. Haley asked "Did it take it?" meaning the picture...then Jake got down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his back pocket (please remember we were on a cliff!!!), asking Haley to marry him. It was a moment neither of them will ever forget, and that is not just because they have the entire thing on video. While this was happening, another couple had wandered their way out to the bluff as well, and they started cheering and clapping once it was done, making them the first people to congratulate Haley and Jake. After hiking back down the bluff and taking a quick swim, they called their families to tell them the news. Everyone was excited and everyone had the same reaction "that's going to be SUCH a fun wedding." Hopefully we can deliver :)