Ryan was moving from San Francisco to Austin for work (classic, right?) and one of his best friends from Coppell, Sam Frederick, had been a UT guy and stayed in Austin after graduating. When Ryan went on an apartment scouting trip to Austin, Sam was kind enough to invite Ryan out to dinner and a concert with him and his friends. As it turns out, Stephanie was one of those friends that was going to said dinner and concert, and Ryan immediately fell for her. They chatted a bit (Ryan thinks they were flirting, but Ryan's also got a huge ego so Stephanie was most likely just being friendly) and at the end of the weekend, Ryan planned on coming back to Austin full time the following month. Ryan moved out to Austin and this is when things get dicey. Ryan had told Sam that he was really into Stephanie but Sam told him to just be cool and get to know her and maybe, if he was really lucky, Steph would want Ryan to ask her out. After over a month of group hangouts and Ryan saying yes to any event he knew Stephanie would be at (like a freakin' stalker), he asked Sam if he thought it would be a good idea to ask Stephanie out. Sam was still unsure, and so Ryan waited until one fateful weekend when he knew for sure that Stephanie was flirting with him—if you took a poll of the concert venue we were at, the patrons would agree that Stephanie was smitten. Ryan asked her out to dinner at Il Brutto followed by drinks at Whistlers, and they've been in love ever since.

Early into dating, Stephanie and Ryan expressed their shared love for Chicago—the people, the culture, the food, the whole nine yards, it's pretty spectacular out there. They also quickly discovered their shared appreciation for a band called Remember Sports. Earlier in January of 2023, Remember Sports announced their first tour in many years, and Stephanie was going to be out of town the weekend they were in Austin. They knew missing their tour wouldn't be an option, so they decided to fly out later that spring in the middle of the week to see them live on their stop in Chicago. Ryan booked a hotel for them right on Lincoln Park, and in the afternoon of May 24th, Steph and Ryan walked through the park to Lake Michigan. After some loving words, Ryan got down on a knee and asked Steph to marry him. Filled with love and excitement, she said yes. From there, they hit an old-school Chicago bar by Wrigley Field, grabbed a nice dinner, and shared the best concert of their lives. 365 days later, they will celebrate the rest of forever in Oaxaca, Mexico.