Riley and Ian first met at the Rec Center rock climbing wall at Texas A&M. Finnegan Hein (one of the groomsmen) had already met Riley earlier at Sbisa dining hall, so when Finn saw her at the gym, he introduced Ian to her. On that night, Ian and Riley got to learn more about each other as they rock climbed and walked around campus along with Finn and Jake. The next time Ian and Riley would see each other was two years later, this time at the Holy Roastary at St. Mary's. Yet again, Finn noticed Riley and said "hi" to her while he was hanging out with Ian and Jake. Even though their first meeting had been two years prior, Ian still remembered that Riley was the cute girl he ran into at the rock climbing wall. Lucky for him, he bumped into her around the church multiple times over the next few weeks instead of over the next few years. After getting to know Riley better, Ian was undoubtedly smitten by her and decided to ask her out on a date. This first period of dating for Riley and Ian was short-lived, but it lead to unanticipated friendships between themselves and between each other's friends. Following this, members of the wedding party such as America, MichaelAnne, Lacy, Claire, and Kira became friends with Ian in a natural manner. Similarly, Riley befriended Sophia, Jonathan, John, Jake, and Finn, without any necessary context of being the "girlfriend of one of their friends." But of course, the friendship that grew the most during these months was the friendship between Riley and Ian. Even though they weren't trying to foster a relationship, it became abundantly clear to both Riley and Ian that they were constantly drawn to spending more time together. Ultimately, Ian realized that he wanted to share his full life with Riley, and he consciously admitted that he had romantic feelings for her. At the same time, Riley discovered that she wanted Ian to always be by her side to do life with. The summer before their senior year of college, Ian and Riley shared their mutual realizations with each other, and excitedly began their final year at A&M as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Under the pretense of being an early Valentine's Day celebration (before Riley's return to Peru), Ian planned a hiking trip for them at Hot Springs National Park. At an overlook point on Hot Springs Mountain, Ian gave Riley a View-Master photo reel that had pictures from significant landmarks in their relationship. One by one, Riley looked at each photo, and she was completely stunned when she found that the last photo in the reel was of a diamond ring. When she removed the View-Master's lens from her eyes, Ian was already on one knee, holding up the ring from the photo. She said "yes" before he even started his romantic speech. Once Riley put on her new bling from the proposal, they noticed the first flakes of snow which would fall for the rest of the evening. The hike down the mountain was very joy-filled. All the stores in town closed due to the weather, but that didn't stop Ian and Riley from running around the empty streets in celebration and playing in the snow.

Riley will be continuing her education through UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Ian will continue working as a statistical analyst for pharmaceutical testing at Medpace in Irving, TX.