Rachel and Ryan met in 8th grade gym class, where he was dating her best friend at the time. They became friends, and after him and her best friend broke up, Ryan claims to have hit on Rachel, but she has no memory of him saying anything to her. Fast forward to sophomore year of high school, the couple had no classes together but lots of mutual friends, including a set of triplets. Both were invited to the triplets' 16th birthday party, where Rachel made the initial move of talking to him and asking for a photo together. They went on a first date to Portillo's and then watched movies in Rachel's basement. After a few months of talking and going on dates, they officially became a couple on May 14th, 2016! They both ended up going to DePaul University (no, they did not follow each other) and lived together with their roommate and officiant, Jesse, their senior and grad years of college. After graduating, Rachel and Ryan started working for the same company, Plante Moran, (yes, Ryan did follow Rachel to this job) where they work in two different departments, on two different floors (thank god). A few months into working full-time, Ryan had saved enough to afford the ring of Rachel's dreams and they went ring shopping in January 2024. Rachel designed her perfect ring and two months later, it showed up on her work bestie's doorstep (shoutout to Sam for letting us use her Indiana address to avoid sales tax). Ryan wanted to wait until busy season was over before popping the question, but the weather on April 14th was too perfect and it was close enough. Ryan's mom wanted to take "family photos" at a nearby park with her "photographer friend." Rachel was slightly suspicious but everyone was being super chill about it. Lauren and Alex (Ryan's sister and brother-in-law) were in charge of capturing of the moment and everything went perfect! They celebrated with their families with pizza and bubbly afterwards and began planning in June! Rachel and Ryan are so excited to be celebrating their big day with you all and for this next journey in their lives!