We met in the surgical halls of a hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It wasn’t much at first, in fact we wouldn’t go on our first date until weeks later in Memphis, Tennessee after a mutual friend brought us back together on St. Patrick’s day (shoutout to Ernestine for telling Gage that Hannah thought he was cute even when she promised not to say anything). Gage played hooky from work to take Hannah to the Memphis Zoo, and we roamed the famous neon-lit Beale Street until the early hours of the morning. From that day on we were smitten. Gage left for Barbados just a month after that, but not before making it “official” as boyfriend and girlfriend. Through a year of long distance, followed by a year of quarantine, and a move to Chicago, we were sure it was forever. Fun Fact: On that fateful St. Patrick’s day back in 2019, Hannah sent a message to a friend that said “I’m gonna marry that boy”. And yes there is a screenshot.

On the “yes” day, Gage planned a series of surprises - which is typical enough of him that Hannah thought nothing of it. We started the day with a walk through the beautiful Chicago Botanic Gardens where Gage told Hannah, “If I could propose to you today I would, but we just need to wait a bit.” Little did she know, the next stop was for the big moment at the iconic Adler Planetarium. It was a windy, cold evening when Gage took Hannah to the overlook to “reminisce” about our years in the city. Then he got down on one shaky knee and so began the rest of our wonderful life together. We ended the day with a beautiful candlelit dinner at Trivoli Tavern where all of the engagement plans were exposed (shoutout to Kevin for the help and the amazing pictures). To top off the weekend, we celebrated Gage’s graduation from med school and a surprise engagement party with both families. The whole weekend was a dream come true and we couldn’t have felt more love and gratitude.