The University of Connecticut has over 20,000 undergraduate students at any given moment. So when in the summer of 2013, Jess’s grandma told her to look out for her church friend’s great grandson on campus, she distinctly remembers playfully rolling her eyes at the kitchen table. Little did she know, across town at another kitchen table, Tyler’s Nonna was telling him all about Anita’s granddaughter who goes to UConn and described her as “a ballplayer.” Well, if our story has taught us anything it’s that fate works in mysterious ways. A few weeks later as we both returned to UConn to begin our sophomore year, we walked into the same classroom to be trained as First Year Program mentors. Our connection was immediately comfortable and effortless. Jess’s first impression of Tyler was of course how easygoing and friendly he was. Tyler’s first impression of Jess was how her smile and laugh lit up a room and her enthusiasm was contagious. Neither of us mentioned we knew our grandmas were friends until several months later. The next 3 years a great friendship formed — we had classes together, studied for exams together, ate meals in dining halls and bonded on the weekends over the struggles of December birthdays and being the last among our friends to turn 21. After graduation we kept in touch with an annual birthday text until reconnecting in the summer of 2020. We met for a lunch that Tyler didn’t quite reveal was a date, and the rest is history. Over the past four years we have shared many Italian meals, many country concerts, and many sporting events cheering on the UConn Huskies or arguing about the Mets and Yankees. We've had amazing trips to Panama, Puerto Rico, and California as well as many weekend trips all over New England that usually involve Tyler driving and Jess sleeping in the passenger seat. The Terbrusch family has shown Jess their love of Block Island and the DeMaio family has shown Tyler their love of Myrtle Beach. We lived for 2 years together in West Hartford before buying our first home in Norwalk, CT this past summer. Tyler pulled off the best surprise when he proposed to Jess at Waveny Park under the (almost) same tree as one of their first dates. We absolutely cannot wait for our love story to continue and are so excited for all of you to be a part of our celebration :)