We met the old fashioned way - through Instagram. I (Jake) had sent Hannah the initial message after noticing she was following me from the Instagram page for the incoming class of 2017 at UC Merced. Well, not immediately. I paced back and forth about it for like 3 days because I didn't wanna seem like a weirdo. I (Hannah) did in fact wonder if he was a weirdo the first time I saw his name pop up. But that did not stop me from responding and also writing in my diary about him that same night. "A random boy named Jake dm'ed me...he actually turned out to be very nice, clean, smart, and entertaining. It was a refreshing experience". You can probably tell the bar had not been raised yet. We messaged each other the rest of summer and I (J) offered to help her move in to her dorm room when we got closer to school starting. I was just trying to have any excuse to be around her as soon as possible. Finally the day arrived, we met in person and we clicked even better than I (H) had ever hoped. He made it "official" 3 days later with a ring pop. We made it through our first year with lots of laughs and cafeteria pizza. He introduced me to Star Wars, I introduced him to The Office. He won my mom over by performing All the Small Things by Blink 182 on stage in an open mic karaoke night with his friend (shout out to our friend John Villalta) and then privately serenading us both with his acoustic guitar (yes, really). I (J) felt pretty good about myself that night. We moved in after our first year and lived together the rest of college, during which time we helped and watched each other grow, adopted our three beloved cats, and oh yeah - lived through a global pandemic. Y'all remember, you were there. This time period always feels so special when I (J) look back on it. Maybe it was just the combination of living on our own for the first time, learning to balance school and work, and everything else we had going on, but I think the major building blocks of our relationship were put in place here. Since then, we've graduated college, moved to Riverside, and have been working on building our life together. We've both entered the legal field and want to go to law school. For me, Jake, the decision to propose sorta came out of nowhere. Well not nowhere exactly; we had talked about getting married and I had the ring and had been planning a proposal, but a health scare in Hannah's family quickly changed my perspective and made me realize I didn't want to wait to plan the perfect moment anymore and just wanted to be married to her. I didn't want either of us to have any regrets about taking too much time and not having everyone we love see us get married. Above all, in that moment of fear and uncertainty, I needed Hannah to know that I am here and will always be here. For the good times, the hard times, the scary times, for everything. For me, Hannah, I could barely let him get through the question before I gave him many repeats of "yes" through tears and nods. It really was the perfect moment and gave me the security I needed to get through such a difficult time. Jake truly has been there for me and my family at every turn while each of my family members have embraced him as one of their own. Meanwhile, I feel like I have become engrained in Jake's family, who have had our backs the entire way too. This wedding would not be possible without all the support we've received from our precious loved ones. Thank you for tuning in, we cannot wait to celebrate our love story with you all. <3 with love from Hannah and Jake