We're getting married!

Our story begins in the height of Covid in the summer of 2020. Jake had heard about this cute blonde girl from his coworker Mike. She loved golf, drove a Jeep, had the same birthday, and she was a baker, so she knew how to cook right? Read on to find out how true those were. After months of going back and forth through Jake's coworkers and hers, he finally took matters into his own hands and reached out directly to Jenny through Facebook Messenger (slid into those dm's ya know). Jenny was nervous and excited to see a message from this man she had heard so much about. As she had told her coworkers, "If he's such a nice guy, why is he still single?" But she replied back and after a few short greetings she let him know she was hesitant about getting into a relationship, and would reach out again when she felt comfortable. She accidentally replied with a thumbs up the next morning while gushing over their brief conversation, and in true Jenny fashion she never stopped talking. About a month of messaging back and forth led to Jake asking for a date before their birthdays. While discussing the dates they realized their birthdays were actually a day apart and settled on a day prior to meet up at Dodge Park. Jake arrived first and let her know he parked at the north end, having no idea this meant very little to Jenny's directionally challenged mind. But she found him, jumped out of her Jeep Liberty (not the Wrangler he envisioned) and said "Wow you're tall". They walked the trails and decided to go to Erma's for ice cream. Jake was enchanted by her huge smile and boisterous personality. They said goodnight and almost immediately began planning a second, much more dangerous date on rollerblades in Riverbends Park. They made it through that date, Jake learning that "loving golf" meant Top Golf, baking and cooking are two very different skills. Jenny was both impressed and slightly scared seeing the state of the remodel Jake was completing, which was going to be done by Christmas. (haha we wished) Three years later he still loves her infectious smile and random dancing in the kitchen.

With our birthdays so close together, it has been our yearly tradition to go away on a trip. This year we decided on the west side of the state. We visited friends, golfed, and just enjoyed walking around the towns of Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. For Jenny's birthday, we had planned a nice dinner and to watch the sunset on the beach. Something we had done many times, and she loves very much. She of course had been hopeful of a proposal for a long time and had even brought it up at dinner that night, and Jake responding with sometime soon, but he had just been too busy. Jenny had no idea while out to eat Jake was stressing about hiding the ring, coordinating the photographer, and the weather staying nice. Jenny stuffed her face with the most delicious pasta and was none the wiser. It was a beautiful night as they walked out to the beach, but she was confused on why they were walking toward the water and not out to the pier like they planned. When Jake stopped, turned her around and got down on one knee to propose. Jenny was shocked. Like frozen in place shocked. She was so excited but then remembered she stupidly brought up marriage 30 minutes earlier at dinner not knowing he had this all planned. Jake put in so much work to make it perfect, and it was. He even hired a friend in the area to photograph the entire thing! Because Jenny does not do well under pressure she answered, " Are you sure?" although she did eventually actually say Yes. She loved the ring, which had yet to be finished, and she was overly protective of it flying off her finger into the water. We are so blessed to have the unwavering support of all of our friends and family.