Luke noticed Ellen in a class they were taking together and right away realized she was a confident and sweet girl from far, but didn’t approach her just yet. Ellen was close friends with one of Luke’s friends and the three of them would spend long hours working together on computer science school work. Luke slowly tried to find ways to spend time with Ellen more through their mutual friends. He asked her many times to hangout, however, wasn’t always successful. After a long pursuit, they finally began a deeper friendship, talking for long hours into the night. After many of these night chats, he asked her to be his girlfriend. They began dating the last month of college and the rest is history! Ellen and Luke have been on many adventures together while dating - traveling to his hometown in Iowa, going on trips to Seattle with friends, going fishing in Wisconsin, and endless drives from Chicago to Indiana since they have been long distance for most of their relationship. There have been many beautiful moments of sacrifice, love, and care to keep going strong in a long distance relationship. They are deeply in love and can’t wait to celebrate each sweet new moment together.

They have both developed a love for the coffee industry and started adventuring in learning more about coffee, brewing methods, espresso pours, and have spent many hours in coffee shops. Right before Luke proposed, he went to a specialty coffee shop and got Ellen coffee before driving to their destination. He took her to a beautiful park with a lake where they had previously spent many times taking walks. As they approached the gazebo on the hill, she saw a whole flower arrangement and a photographer doing a photo session with someone. Luke took Ellen’s hand and kept walking in that direction. Meanwhile, the photographer quickly turned around and started taking photos of the two of them (all planned out ahead of time). In shock, Ellen walked toward the trail of flowers leading up to a shape of a heart made out of rose petals and candles. Inside of this heart, Luke got down on one knee and asked Ellen to marry her. With many tears of joy, she said yes!