Abby and Jared met while they were both students at Western Michigan University in March of 2016. On their first date they watched Crazy Stupid Love and too many game shows, unaware that they themselves would soon fall crazy stupid in love with each other. They continued to bond over their love of live music, good food, movies, and travel.

Jared graduated that spring semester. He next spent the next 6 months traveling back and forth from Germany, staying with his mom in Düsseldorf. During this time, they kept in touch and decided to make their relationship official. After Abby finished her degree, with special credit to Jared for quizzing her on countless psych flash cards, they both found jobs in downtown Kalamazoo and decided to put down more roots.

First came the house apartment on Burdick street with a large cat mural, then came their tiny West Main place on the train tracks where they braved the pandemic and remote working together. These two made the best out of every living situation and relied on each other through it all. After this, Abby and Jared bought their first fixer upper home in Portage and poured so much sweat into it- with lots of help from their parents! Home is their favorite place to be with each other and their two sweet senior cats, Jordan the tuxedo and Evie the brown tabby.

Jared is Abby's biggest fan and always encourages her in work, at the gym, and in every aspect of life. Abby loves to make Jared's green eyes sparkle with a smile or a laugh and strives to support him in any way that she can, whether it be big or small. While they have a lot of routine, they challenge each other to get out of their comfort zone often, but do so with love. As they have grown over these years together, they have made the other a better person over time.

On December 18, 2022 after 6.5 years of dating and all of the life in between, Jared popped the question at Cove Lakeside Bistro, a favorite place, while they waited for bread pudding, a favorite dessert. Jared and Abby are so excited to share this next step in their journey together with all of you!