Despite passing each other countless times in our favorite college bar, our first date didn't happen until over a year after graduation for the both of us! It was an early evening with beer at (a bit nicer ;)) bar in Madison. (I did admittedly have to ask Ethan the date: "June 24th. We met after you ran Her. ♡ ♡ ♡" ) After that, the rest was history. We went on 3 (!) consecutive dates after; from Bucky hunting to dog parks to breweries and more. A mere week later, they found themselves back in Danny's, where Hannah blurted, "so we're doing this, right?"... completely bashing Ethan's plan to officially ask 24 hours later under the fireworks. Our relationship has taken us to every corner of Wisconsin and 5 states. Through trials and tribulations, more than one run of the flu and one heck of a snowstorm. Into the depths of a frozen lake after a dog, new coffee shops to feed my addiction and the (best) Cabella's to feed his. Thanks for joining this journey with us, we're excited to see where it goes. ♡

To Ethan's credit, I'm a hard one to surprise. While I started to have a hankering about it two weeks out of our mini-vacation of chili fest in Oconomowoc, little did I know he had had this planned since October! Not only this, but he even managed to slide my "Mr. and Mrs." champagne glasses out from under my nose. I figured requesting those be at the proposal would be a sure-fire way for me to know it was going to happen! ;) On a frigid, literally 9 below day, we found ourselves in a quiet coffee shop in Oconomowoc near the boardwalk (a place near and dear to me all through growing up!) On our way out, I wanted to stop at "the Doggy Bag" and grab something for Mocha. Ethan had little to no time for it and I couldn't understand why! Fast forward 15 minutes, finding ourselves on the boardwalk watching hockey, I finally had my reason. Ethan started off on a speech that I'm sure was planned in a lovely manner, even if all he got out was "Will you marry me?" He proceeded to drop to one knee AFTER asking, but don't worry--I was so overwhelmed with happiness I'm still not sure I ever said yes. Not only did I agree to spend the rest of my life with him through wearing my mom's wedding ring, but I also got to say yes in the same spot my mom did as well. ♡ We spent the rest of the day celebrating with our families, who surprised me in the coffee shop post-engagement. I didn't learn until after that Ethan had an extremely scripted itinerary --to the minute!-- and a planned hotel with a surprise engagement box from my Mom and Dad. Now--to hope the big day plays out just as smoothly and magical!