Irina and Jason met as all people do: at their engineering fraternity at Miami University. Rather than striking up a conversation at a meeting or a charity event, their first real conversation happened when they caught each other at the bar skipping said event and immediately knew they had their priorities aligned. (Just kidding moms!) After walking one of Irina’s friends home, they proceeded to get dinner at a dining hall. The perfect first date really. After dinner, numbers were exchanged, and the chase was on. After weeks of playing hard to get, Irina finally wore down and agreed to go to a date party with Jason at the prestigious Pike House. The rest as they say, is history. Irina and Jason shared many more great memories at Miami, and are happy to join the Miami Mergers club. The school will always hold a special place in their hearts as not just the place where they met, but also where they met many of their lifelong friends If you couldn’t tell by Jason’s hair, he’s a few years older than Irina. After school, Jason moved to Chicago to join some of his college friends, while Irina finished her last two years at Miami. Neither of them knew how long distance would go, but both of them knew they wanted to give it a try. Fortunately, Miami has a Skyline Chili, making frequent visits back a no brainer. Irina also had her first internship the summer of 2016 where the two could spend their first “Summertime Chi” together. Ironically, Jason lived in the suburbs at the time, so thanks to Chicago traffic, the long distance continued. Two years later, Irina finally moved to the city, experiencing what her and her friends fondly dubbed “Freshman Year Chicago.” A few years later, Irina decided it was time Jason learned to clean a bathroom, so they made the leap and moved into Eugenie Terrace together.

After 9 short years of being together, Jason decided that he couldn’t let any more time go by without marrying Irina. On May 12th, with both families in town, Jason decided to pop the question in the place that they had come to love so much, their home, Eugenie Terrace. With the rooftop rented out and decorated, the two of them came up to the rooftop under the pretense of “joining Irina’s family for a drink”. Convinced he had her fooled and surprised, Jason got down on one knee and said…”???” Well he thinks he said “will you marry me?”, but frankly the whole thing was a blur. In fact, neither of them are sure what was actually said. While Jason’s pretty confident he asked the question, he knows for sure he told Irina how much he loves her. Afterwards, they shared the most memorable weekend surrounded by their friends and family. Friends and family have been such a huge part of our story and we cannot wait to celebrate the next chapter with all of you in October!