It all started when Ryan messaged Julie on Hinge because she was from 'The Jersey Shore'. After almost blowing him off, she decided she'd give him chance. He had a picture with his dog and his mom on his profile, so there was hope. Ryan planned the first date and took Julie to a dive bar called 'Backlot'. He said it reminded him of home. Full of smokers, cheap beer and dive bar regulars. Nonetheless, we had a great night chatting and decided to go out again. A few weeks into dating, Ryan went to Mexico with his family for Christmas and Julie drove home to New Jersey. During the 30 plus hours of driving, we talked for hours upon hours and it felt like we had been dating for years. When in reality, it had only been a few weeks. Fast forward a week or so, and Ryan got quarantined in Mexico with Covid...not exacltly the NYE we were looking forward to. But, we facetimed all night until the clock struck midnight, watching movies and chatting and getting to know each other even better. Distance made the heart grow fonder in our case and after Mexico, we both knew we were in love. Fast forward to a few months ago when Ryan proposed at Zilker Park. It was a week after Julie met his family and we were having a breakfast picnic in Zilker with coffee, fruit and donuts. Ryan suggested we take a picture before leaving (which was weird), so we got up and asked random people to take our picture. Turns out they weren't random and they were actually Ryan's friends from church. He was down on one knee and the rest is history. We've both grown tremendously over the last year. We've grown independently, with each other and most importantly, in our faith and learning how much we need the Lord to keep us grounded and bless our marriage. We can't wait to celebrate with all of our favorite people. And we can't wait to have a marriage full of Jesus, love, laughs, Frank Sinatra, Taylor Swift, wine, spaghetti and meatballs and our dogs.