Maddie thought it would be a good idea for me (Ryan) to write our story here. You'd think after being together for so long, she'd know better, but here we are! Maddie and I met at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church during our freshman year of college at Iowa State. I had gotten to know her friend Emily a bit at the parish's fall cleanup, and she introduced me to Maddie and a few more of her friends after mass the following weekend. Ashamedly, their names didn't quite stick in my head at first, so for the next few weeks I only knew Maddie as "Emily's cute friend." Things really kicked off between Maddie and I at the SEEK23 conference during the winter break of our freshman year. SEEK is a week-long conference that brings tens of thousands of college students together from across the country to deepen their relationship with Christ through the Sacraments, brilliant speakers, and inspiring community. I knew very few people at the conference, and one day I lost my group of guys and ended up spending most of the afternoon with Maddie and her friends. That afternoon, I got to know Maddie not only as "Emily's cute friend," but as the sweet, intentional, beautiful woman that she is, who had the cutest laugh that I couldn't get enough of. Thankfully for me, there was a big swing dance that night, and my dancing is very laughable. I may have dropped Maddie a few times that night, but let the record show that I always caught her, and she didn’t seem too upset about being wrapped up in my arms. We went our separate ways for the last days of the conference, and after we returned home to Ames I did what any ladies’ man would do…I slid into her GroupMe DMs. And don’t you think for a second I said anything smooth. It was the dorkiest thing you’d ever read. But unbeknownst to me, Maddie had liked me since October, so thankfully my lack of game didn’t get in the way of a first date with the love of my life. I took Maddie ice skating for our first date because she loves to skate and I’m impressingly awful at it, so I had the perfect excuse to hold her hand the whole night. My plan was almost thwarted by a long line of guys waiting for people to return the large skates, but I decided to squeeze my big flippers into size 8 skates so I wouldn’t miss my chance to skate with Maddie. As Shakespeare once put it, "No pain, no gain." As I walked back from that first skating date, I texted one of my best friends and told him that there was something different about Maddie that I had never felt before. I told him to remember this night in case he'd be talking about it 4 years from now on my wedding day. The only part I got wrong is that Maddie and I would be getting married almost a year sooner than that :)

I was originally planning on proposing to Maddie late in April or May, but on March 25th, I had a scary but exciting thought: “What if I do it today?” It was the Feast of the Annunciation, when Catholics celebrate the moment that the Archangel Gabriel was sent to the Blessed Virgin Mary to ask her to be the mother of Jesus, the Mother of God. In her humble “Fiat,” Mary gave a “yes” to God’s calling for her life, a “yes” to being the Spouse of the Holy Spirit and the Mother of All Christians, a “yes” which resonated throughout all of history. I was also looking for a pretty big “yes” from a beautiful woman, and my shaky hands could use as much of St. Gabriel’s confidence as I could get! In all seriousness, I thought there could be no more fitting way for Maddie and I to begin our great “Fiat” to each other and to consecrate our marriage to Christ through Mary than to propose to her on this great feast day. I asked Maddie if she would pray a Rosary with me at Ada Hayden park that night to celebrate the Annunciation together. We’ve made many great memories together at Ada Hayden, from stargazing to picnics with friends, and the weather forecast looked like it would be a beautiful night at the park. I knew (and she later confirmed) that this would send proposal alarm bells running through Maddie’s head, but I figured she’d prefer sweet over surprise. I picked her up late that night and away we went towards the start of the rest of our lives. The clear sky was a beautiful canvas of stars as we walked through the park and prayed together. The cool spring breeze and soft chirps and scurries of the animals in the woods helped ease both of our racing hearts - aside from a random goose splashing in the water and scaring us half to death. I know that Our Lady was smiling on us that night because our Rosary ended right as we got to a beautiful bridge that overlooks both sides of the park’s pond. We made the sign of the cross, and Maddie started to sing the Salve Regina as I took a step back and got down on one knee. Thankfully, I didn’t lose the ring in the pond when Maddie gave me her “yes” and tackled me. We are counting down the days to our special day, and we can't wait to celebrate with all of you!