We're getting married!

We grew up just five minutes down the road from one another. Looking back through old yearbook pictures from elementary school, we can be seen side-by-side. Our lives were so similar from practically being neighbors, attending the same schools, having our younger brothers be best friends, but we never really got to know each other. We both attended UW-Madison and our paths never crossed, except for one party in the Wittie dorm our Freshman year when we were both hanging out with mutual friends. It wasn't until many years later our paths crossed again. After graduating, Bryan moved back to Oshkosh to work for a tech start up. McKenna was still in Madison attending graduate school. During winter break in 2019, McKenna was home for the holidays and got together with her friends. When they picked her up, Bryan happened to be along with them. They struck up the typical "wow, I haven't seen you in years" conversation on the way to their plans that night and now the rest is history. From that moment on they became close friends, only made closer when the pandemic hit and McKenna moved home when school went online. Now both living in Oshkosh, and the world shut down, they spent almost every day together after school and work. From time spent cooking at Bryan's apartment with their friends, to golfing, to learning trending Tik Tok dances, to road tripping across the country with their best friends, to trips to Bryan's family cabin, it wasn't long before our friendship started to turn into something more. In the fall of 2020, Bryan broke the news to McKenna that he would be moving across the country to San Diego with his best friend Chris. Fortunately for us, McKenna's grad program was still remote and so she was able to travel to San Diego often to visit Bryan. Little did she know that she was also exploring what would soon become her future home. That spring, after graduating, McKenna packed up her Honda Civic and headed West to San Diego. We lived there for two more years together, loving every minute adventuring, exploring, and soaking up everything the West coast has to offer. We even got our first cat, Olive (who we also took on these adventures). Despite the fun we had, we knew we ultimately wanted be closer to our families and moved back to Madison, where we bought our first house. In February 2024, while on a Caribbean cruise Bryan asked McKenna to marry him. Looking back at our story, it's true what's meant to be really does find a way. So many things fell into perfect place for us to be where we are today. Now, we absolutely cannot wait to get married, celebrated with all of our favorite people, and see what's to come in our story!