Our story started in December 2017 when Ryan was hanging out with Abby’s cousin Garrett while home from GVSU during Christmas break. Abby received a Snapchat of Ryan, who immediately thought he was cute and began asking Garrett questions about him. Abby learned quite a lot about Ryan through Garrett but eventually, Garrett got sick of answering Abby’s questions and gave her Ryan’s Snapchat. Figuring she had nothing to lose, Abby thought she would reach out with a pun using some of the information she learned from Garrett. “Hey there Eagle Scout :)” …and the rest, they say, is history.

After Ryan and Abby began dating, they were long distance for almost two years - Ryan living in Grand Rapids while attending GVSU and Abby living in Port Huron while going to nursing school. They spent many weekends together in Grand Rapids going out to some of their favorite restaurants, like Sapporo Ramen and HopCat, hanging out with Ryan's roommates playing Stump in the backyard or walking to their favorite dive bar Joey's to play some pool and eat popcorn with hot sauce (don't knock it til you try it). There was never a dull moment and they soaked up all the time they had together.

After Ryan graduated from GVSU in December 2019, he moved back home to Port Huron and the long distance was finally over! Abby graduated from nursing school in April 2020, and shortly after, Ryan and Abby moved into an apartment together in downtown Port Huron.

Not too long after moving in together, Ryan decided he wanted to go back to school to pursue nursing and was quickly accepted to Oakland University. Ryan spent a lot of time studying and at clinicals while Abby worked night shift at the hospital as a new nurse on the COVID unit. While their schedules were complete opposite and there were times they didn't see each other for days, all the hard work paid off. Now, Ryan works as a Pediatric nurse and Abby works as a Labor and Delivery nurse.

On August 19th 2023, Ryan and Abby were getting ready to go get pictures taken by Ryan’s brother Timmy. Abby was told that Timmy was applying for a photography scholarship and it was a good excuse to dress up a little bit. They met Timmy at Lakeport State Park and after about 30 minutes of pictures, they started walking back towards the parking lot. Ryan, who was so nervous, said he had to use the bathroom, so they all stopped on a bridge right by the parking lot while Ryan ran off to try and find a bathroom. While waiting, Timmy said the bridge would be a good spot to get a few more pictures before leaving, so they waited for Ryan to come back. Ryan came back a couple minutes later and while Timmy was adjusting his camera and Abby wasn’t paying attention, Ryan got down on one knee and asked Abby to marry him. In shock, Abby couldn’t stop laughing, but between her giggles, she of course said yes.


When they finally made it back to the car, Ryan told Abby not to use her phone to call anyone because they would be stopping by his parent’s house first to tell them the good news and then stopping by Abby’s parent’s house to do the same. As they pulled up to his parent’s house, Abby saw all of their closest friends and family waiting to congratulate them at a surprise engagement party... and cue the tears!

Both Ryan and Abby are so excited and blessed to have all of their friends and family share in their excitement and joy as they prepare for their wedding day and the rest of their lives together.