There’s a certain romance to the idea that someone finds ‘the one’ through a random chance encounter that’s popularized by movies and TV shows. This sort of random chance may appear like it happened to Taryn and Kevin when they sat next to each other in 6th grade social studies class. It didn’t take long to become fast friends by joking around during class and writing silly notes to each other in the margins of their notebooks. It’d be romantic to say that was the start to their ‘happily ever after,’ but in actuality, that didn’t happen until years later. Over the following years, they found themselves in different friend groups and activities. Even though they didn’t sit next to each other anymore, every time they connected rekindled their friendship. Their infrequent talks gave them plenty to catch up on, and it was common for them to stay up late at night via online messaging apps. And despite how long it’d been since they last talked, it felt like no time passed at all. And as they entered high school, every time they spoke was a reminder of their natural their friendship. All in all, it took three failed attempts at dating each other, two other relationships, and six years before Taryn and Kevin’s real story began on January 5th, 2014 when they finally started dating for good. By this point, their 16 year old selves were far different than the 11 year old versions that met each other. But even that difference was small compared to the changes that Taryn and Kevin still had yet to face. For their own reasons, they both decided to go to the University of Pittsburgh in August, 2015. Taryn went to begin her pathway down a medical route, and Kevin went to join the engineering program. The following four years would present some of the best and worst moments in their relationship to date due to both of them being extremely busy in their respective programs and working two jobs for the majority of their time in college. But despite all of these stresses, Taryn and Kevin always found ways to find some time for each other, whether it was studying together late at night in the library, going to see a movie on the southside of Pittsburgh, or just walking through downtown to destress. Together over the course of four years, they explored the city, made countless unforgettable friends (many of whom are on the wedding parties!), and grew to realize they could adapt and change to any situation life would throw at them. Taryn and Kevin moved in together after graduating in the summer of 2019 to Philadelphia. The plan was for Taryn to attend a graduate school program to become a physician assistant and Kevin would work as an engineer in the meantime. He proposed to her on November 9th, 2019, and Taryn said yes surrounded by her friends and family deep in Wissahickon Park. The following years went by in a blur as they both worked, studied, and added two cats and two dogs to their family. And now, the time has finally come for Taryn and Kevin to wed on May 28th, 2023 - three and a half years after getting engaged, nine years after beginning dating, and fifteen and a half years after meeting each other for the first time. You see, it wasn’t the chance encounter of sitting next to each other that got them here. There were plenty of opportunities for this story to have turned out differently. But what did keep Taryn and Kevin together was the open mind that each other had for the change that the other person was experiencing. They both are extremely grateful and blessed that not only did they get to see each other grow up, but that they continually fell deeper in love with the people that they would become. And now, they are even more grateful and blessed for all of the support from friends and family from every stage of life coming to celebrate their wedding now and give them the strongest possible foundation to build the rest of their life from.