They met during the pandemic; online first, but then one night, she decided to go into the bar where he works and ended up sitting with him all night. “Bars had just reopened, but no one was in Iowa City so they were pretty slow. I came into Sports Column one night with my good friend while he was bartending and the bar was empty,” Jennie said. “He was pretty shy, but luckily, my friend is an absolute ray of sunshine and can talk to anyone, and she got him to open up and show his personality. We started talking and really clicked, and I’ve seen him basically every day since.”

A little over two years later, this past December, Ryan proposed. “We had just gotten back from a friend’s going away party and were all dressed up and happy. I was running around, changing my clothes, taking off makeup, making food, etcetera, and he kept asking me to chill out and come over to him and I was being a brat like, ‘Why? What do you need? I’m busy.’ Finally, he corralled me into a hug and we hugged and we swaying for a few minutes, and he suddenly got down on one knee. I had tears immediately. I kept saying, ‘Oh my god. Oh my god.’ He had to say, ‘Jennie, yes or no??'”

Their wedding is next year and Ryan said the thing he’s most looking forward to is, “finally being able to call Jennie my wife and making her so happy.”