The first time we officially met was at our friend's Ty & Ingrid's wedding where Meagan was a bridesmaid & Jake was a groomsman. While that was the first time we met, it wasn't until later that fall when Jake visited Ty & Ingrid in San Diego that we really got to know each other better. Following that trip, Jake thought it would be fun to rent an AirBnB in San Diego with some friends to 'escape' the Chicago winter for a few weeks. It was on that visit that the initial sparks began to fly. Early in Jake's trip, our group of friends went on a hike at Torrey Pines where we found ourselves off in our own little conversation just about the entire time. The next day, our friends got together for a Super Bowl party (a party Meagan has made abundantly clear she wouldn't have attended if the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl that year), and again, we found ourselves talking just about the entire time. After hitting it off back to back nights, Jake decided to call Meagan the next day to ask her out on our first date. Meagan said YES, and given the trip was on a bit of a time clock, we decided to go on our first date that very night. Coming out of that night, we both told our friends that it was the BEST date we'd ever been on, and we decided to quickly go on another three dates before Jake's trip ended and he went back home to Chicago. During those dates, we learned that we loved spending time together, had a lot of interests in common, and most importantly, it became clear that we both loved Jesus. On our last day with each other, we both agreed that long distance sounded hard, but that we had to give it a shot! While the in between led to a lot of late night FaceTime calls, we quickly planned another trip to see each other the next month. Going into the trip, we were both a little skeptical about whether things would actually work, but after spending time together (including Jake meeting Meagan's family for the first time), we both left a bit head over heels. The nice thing about the early days of our relationship is that Jake's job had him out on the West Coast every 2 or so weeks which made things quite a bit easier. Fast forward into the summer months, Meagan began making a lot more of her cross country trips after she finished teaching in May. Those were the trips where Meagan met Jake's family and friends, and towards the end of the summer, we both started thinking about what it would look like to no longer be long distance. While Jake didn't officially move out West until November, he spent a month in California in August and September which was when it felt like long distance finally came to an end. Following the Thanksgiving and Christmas months, we were both ready to take the next step. Jake officially proposed to Meagan on Coronado Island on March 8, 2024, AND SHE SAID YES. We were able to celebrate with both our families that weekend, and after that, we're now even more excited to celebrate with all of you on our wedding day!