Michelle and Michelle's best friend (and maid of honor!) Vivian wanted to go to a music festival together after Freshmen year of college, but didn't want to go it alone. They invited Ryan's brother (and best man!) Brady and he asked Ryan to go as well. Michelle and Ryan met going in the same group, danced to some Jai Wolf, Major Lazer, and Porter Robinson and the rest is history!

5 long years of long distance was hard. Ryan lived in Orange County, CA for the last 3 years of Michelle going to school in San Luis Obispo, CA, 4 hours away. After graduation, Michelle moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for work and now they were 12 hours away by car. They visited often and made every effort to see each other at least once a month, even meeting up in Bakersfield one weekend in 2017. Finally in 2021, Ryan and Michelle moved to Riverton, UT together and finally ended long distance!

6 years ago, on Michelle’s 20th birthday, she asked Ryan to be her boyfriend. Fast forward to Ryan’s 27th birthday, Michelle and Ryan planned to visit Capitol Reef National Park in Southern Utah. On the way down, Ryan mentioned to Michelle that at some point during the trip, they needed to record a birthday dance video for his mom, whose birthday was in a few weeks. Ryan and Michelle were going to be arriving late to her birthday party, and would be missing doing the dance with all the party attendees. They both thought it would be a great idea to record the dance at the summit of the long hike they planned for Saturday. This gave Ryan the excuse to bring a tripod without any questions… Michelle was all-in on the idea and even wanted to practice the dance during the hike they did on Friday upon arrival to the national park. On Saturday, Michelle and Ryan planned to hike the Navajo Knobs trail to challenge themselves and get the best 360-degree view of the park. After a hearty breakfast and some delicious coffee, they embarked on their 9-mile adventure (it really ended up being 11-miles though). The weather forecast for Saturday predicted rain and cloudy skies all day, but it ended up being sunny blue skies during the entire hike – a sign of what was to come. The hike was strenuous, but beautiful, and Michelle and Ryan were awestruck by the grandiosity of it all. Once they scrambled up to the very windy summit, Ryan quickly set up his tripod to “record the dance”. There, on the summit of Navajo Knobs, Ryan got down on one knee and proposed. Michelle cried, refused to put the ring on in fear of it flying away, and … said yes!!!