We’re Getting Married!

Ryan and Melanie’s story started back in 2016, when they were both in college at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Their lives crossed paths a few years before they started dating but it was no more than a passing glance, or a door held open (literally and figuratively). Fate had not yet met its time to pair them together. Cupid’s first attempt came when Ryan was working as a lifeguard at the university's swimming pool and Melanie was working as an athletic training student for the school’s swim team. Ryan would help Mel bring her heavy water coolers through his office to the pool deck, but Ryan claims Mel doesn’t remember these interactions (she disagrees and says there was a ‘cute boy’ that would help her). Step One: strangers became acquaintances. The next time their lives intertwined was when Ryan got a job with the company Red Bull, which Melanie had already been working for, as a member of the Wings Team. She was told by their boss that another Athletic Training student was hired, but Mel did not recognize the name. She set out to solve the mystery, and as fate would have it, they were both assigned to work a community service event together just a few months later. Step Two: acquaintances became classmates. Fate once again played its hand, as they were both assigned a rotation working together for the football team. This rotation took up all of their free time and placed the two of them together day after day working closely together. Step Three: classmates turned to friends. Their friendship quickly blossomed throughout the football season and cupid’s arrow finally hit its mark as they officially started dating once the semester was over. Step Four: friends turned to sweethearts. They finished out the year together, spending more time together than they did uptown, which as you all know must have meant things were getting pretty serious. Mel graduated undergrad a year before Ryan and their relationship consisted of trading road trip weekends and hours on facetime. But it stood the test of distance and time as Melanie spent a year of graduate school four hours away, at Mansfield University. After, what they describe as ‘the longest year ever,’ Ryan graduated and moved back home to Green Pond, NJ as Mel got a job and moved to Reading, PA. Once again, they spent the weekends trading road trips from Reading to the Pond, but the distance became too much and something needed to change. As fate continued to work its magic, Ryan got a job at a rival college in Reading, PA and for the first time, the two lovebirds moved in together. As years passed and their relationship evolved, they decided to make the best decision of their lives and adopt their first dog together, Berkley. After a few moves, multiple states, ups, downs, covid quarantine, homeownership and everything in between, the three of them are now enjoying their lives lakeside, back in New Jersey. Berkley won’t stop swimming, Ryan won’t stop fishing and Mel is slowly trusting the lake water over the ocean water more and more every year, but they couldn’t be happier to be where they are. As you read this, the fifth and final step is in motion, as sweethearts become spouses.