We're getting married

Rylee and Rachel’s story began in 2014 as coworkers at a local credit union. Rylee would often have to walk up to Rachel’s desk and ask for her initials alongside his in order to shred old credit cards. He often joked about how their initials almost matched. She would politely laugh. After only a few months of working together, Rylee left the credit union and they went their separate ways. Shortly after, Rachel started attending trivia nights with some coworkers on Wednesday nights. That trivia night group included Rylee’s roommate and he would occasionally invite himself along. After reconnecting at those trivia nights, Rylee wanted to ask Rachel to hang out, but he didn’t want to scare her off by making it seem like a date. He invited her to hang out at Mort’s, a local martini bar, and agonized over making it sound casual. Before he arrived at Rachel’s apartment to pick her up, Rachel even confided in her roommate that she really hoped he didn’t think this was a date. However, the night was a huge success. They laughed all night and realized they had a lot in common. It took a little while, but eventually the friendship deepened into something more. They decided to make it official late one night in May 2016, and haven’t looked back since.

Rylee’s initial plan, before the pandemic hit, had been a rooftop proposal in New York City over their 4th dating anniversary in 2020. When that didn’t happen, he decided to switch gears and take them back to Norfork Lake, where they had their very first getaway together, instead. That first getaway had turned into an annual hiking/camping trip so Rachel didn’t think anything of it. He planned the proposal for a float trip down the river so they could recreate that very first trip they had taken, but it nearly turned into a disaster. Rachel took a work call while they were on the river and ruined most of the early opportunities. She miraculously lost signal a ways in, but by then the river was much faster and it took all of their attention to steer. Rylee was about to give up because he knew the end of the float trip was coming up. He sent out a desperate prayer for clarity and two minutes later the water calmed, the scenery was perfect, and the canoe gently beached itself on some sand in the middle of the river. It was the sign that he needed and when Rachel turned around to ask him a question, Rylee was down on one knee. Seven years after meeting, and their initials really will match.