We're getting married!

Jamic and Angie met at Club Mamalu in Downtown Naperville. Angie was out with her roommates and Jamic was out with his friends. Jamic spotted Angie across the bar and told his friends, "That’s the kind of girl I need, messy bun, laid back, out for a good time… we need to go dance by them." Then came on the famous YMCA - Jamic did his C backwards and Angie of course took it upon herself to fix it. They continued on with the night, but never ended up having a conversation. In Jamic’s words, “you can’t fly too close to the sun”. Following this encounter, Jamic realized he needed to see Angie, but did not know how to make it happen as he never got her number. After days of pondering and one demotivating conversation with his father (who kindly said he had already f’d it up), Jamic reached out to his unofficial roommate (official officiant) Ryan Donato for help. Jamic’s current roommate at the time, Rudy Berg, had a pre-standing reputation with the Benedictine crowd. Though Rudy was well liked and popular, Jamic’s message would land with thoughtfulness he needed it to not be coming from Rudy. Ryan on the other hand was cherished by all and held to the highest acclaim, Ryan was friends with nearly all of the softball team including Angie. After a few texts back and forth, Jamic and Ryan landed on a few simple words to let Angie know Jamic had a good time with her and would like to see her again if she was up for it. As the days went by without any response, Jamic's heart sank. After a few more days he messaged Ryan and said "guess that means no from Angie..." to which Ryan politely replied, "oh sorry I haven't sent it yet". Though mildly frustrated, Jamic was back in high spirits thinking he still had a chance. Angie had just gotten home for winter break and while she was out with her brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Heidi, she got a message on Twitter from Ryan Donato which read, "hey, so two weeks ago my buddy Jamic saw you at mama Lou, thought that you were cute, and would like to get to know you." She pondered the message for a few hours and decided she had nothing to lose! She responded "hahaha this is awesome" and received his number from Ryan. She then proceeded to immediately text Jamic in the early hours of the morning (let's recall she was out). Jamic, however was not out that evening, and did not respond until later that day. When he did respond, Angie also added him on Snapchat so she could see/hopefully remember what he looked like. Jamic was in Milwaukee with Rudy for the holidays, so they agreed to meet up for a first date after the holidays, but before Angie left for the Philippines. When they finally made it to their first date (on Angie’s 22nd birthday) it was all it over. After sitting through a terrible movie, Jamic and Angie sat down to dinner at Clara’s in Woodridge. They talked for hours and hours before ever even opening the menu. No drinks ordered, no appetizers, just great conversation and one very disgruntled waiter. It was clear that they had an instant connection, and the rest was history.

Two weeks before moving back from England, Jamic and Angie planned a Eurail Trip to cross off several places on their travel list. The first stop was Paris! Jamic, though not planning to propose in Paris, had thrown the ring in his backpack as they explored the city - if the right moment came, he’d be ready. After seeing the sheer number of people around the Eiffel Tower, Jamic quickly decided Paris would not be the place to pull out the ring as he also realized he needed to be completely alone with Angie if he was going to get these words out. From Paris they travelled down into Italy, specifically Cinque Terre. This was probably the most planned stop for Angie. From the food to the hiking, she was super excited to take in these beautiful towns in Italy. The morning of their big hike, Jamic made sure to pack the backpack with a very specific item. They set out and as they made it to a spot looking out over the Mediterranean between Monterroso and Vernazza, Jamic asked to stop so he could "rest his knee." He asked Angie to grab the Voltero (anti-inflammatory) out of the backpack and without looking she dug around and quickly said "I can't find it; you grab it out," while handing back the backpack. Jamic pulled out a little white box to which Angie asked, "What is this?" She was convinced it was a joke - maybe a pair of earrings - until she looked back at Jamic, and he was down on his knee. Inside the box was not only the long-awaited engagement ring, but also the movie tickets from their first date, which he saved. Then, in the words of Jeff Adkins himself, Jamic asked, “So, are you going to marry me or what?" Angie, once she realized this was actually happening, said of course. With excitement and emotions at an all-time high, they continued their hike and celebrated throughout the day. Only each dad knew, so they got to call all of the family members over the course of the next couple of days to continue in their celebration.