We first met in Dayton, Ohio on August 16, 2018, while attending Camp Blue, a leadership program for incoming students at UD. After a rainy day of pulling weeds at a service site, Jared spotted Jessica on the bus ride back to campus and asked for her Snapchat. We hung out a few times before classes began but lost touch as the school year picked up and life got busy. Nearly a year later, Jessica randomly messaged Jared to ask where he was living sophomore year and who knew that one text would lead to finding her forever person. Jared officially asked Jessica to be his girlfriend on December 12, 2019, perfect timing just before winter break and the start of a soon-to-be quarantine period. The first few months of dating were spent six hours apart, with countless long FaceTime calls bridging the distance. When we finally returned to campus, we made the most of every moment cheering on the Flyers at UD basketball games, playing music bingo at Fieldhouse, day drinking with friends, attending formals, and enjoying family weekends. Six years later, we couldn’t be more excited to keep the adventure going and say “I do” surrounded by the people we love most!

Jared proposed on May 24, 2025 on the south pond bridge in Lincoln Park, in Chicago. Who knew a routine trip to Chicago would turn into the biggest surprise of my life and leave me completely speechless (which doesn’t happen often!). On Friday, my parents and I drove to visit the Rech family for Memorial Day weekend. The plan for Saturday was simple: Jared and I would spend the morning together, then meet up with both of our parents in the city to explore and grab lunch at our favorite restaurant. We started the day at the Lincoln Park Farmers Market while waiting for our families to take the train into the city. After a while, I checked my mom’s location and saw they were already downtown which struck me as a little odd, but I didn’t think much of it and went with the flow. After the market, Jared suggested we take a walk through a nearby nature trail filled with beautiful flowers and trees. It was a gorgeous day, and I never say no to a cute photo op, so I was all in. As we walked across a bridge with an amazing view of the city, we paused to take a selfie. That’s when a woman came up and offered to take a picture of us on my phone. Then she mentioned she had her nice camera with her and offered to snap a photo to send us later. I thought, "Why not?" still completely unaware. She asked me to take off my purse for the picture, and as I stepped back to pose, I turned around to find Jared down on one knee, holding a ring. After Jared asking me to marry him twice because I couldn’t speak, I finally said yes! We spent the next hour taking engagement photos with the photographer, soaking in every moment of the day. Jared then told me he’d planned the whole morning to keep me distracted because both of our families were already at the restaurant waiting to celebrate. When we arrived, they greeted us with huge smiles and hugs and just when I thought the surprises were over, Jared had one more. Inside, even more of our family members were waiting to celebrate our engagement together. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect proposal and I can’t wait to marry my best friend!