It all began in Bloomington. Home of the Cream and Crimson. At first glance our story is simple. We were your typical college couple, meeting for the first time in the dorms, helping each other with homework, and then escalating the relationship via social gatherings and date parties.

But almost nine years have passed since that first encounter two weeks into our freshman year, so it's time we peek behind the curtain and reveal our true story. The odds would say we never should have met, but if you look a little closer, we were always meant to find each other.

Ryan: Both my parents attended IU. I have six aunts and uncles and thirteen first cousins who also went to IU, including two cousins who graduated alongside Blake and I in 2019 (shout out to Michael and Sarah!). Hoosiers run deep in my family, so you wouldn't be the only one to say "yeah right" when I tell you I almost attended DePauw University to swim. Despite Paul and Kelly’s wishes for me to continue my swimming career, I backed out the summer before classes started.

My last-minute switch can be attributed to several things, including family ties, sore shoulders, and an appetite for Big Ten-level partying. But there is one factor that sticks out above the rest: my desire to experience college in a lively cultural scene and make new friends with backgrounds different from mine. Little did I know my decision to go to IU would lead me to my future-husband, a boy who came from Montreal and Switzerland. So exotic!

Blake: IU was never a sure bet for me either as I made my final decision later than most. But let’s talk about the first time I met Ryan. I lived on floor 11 and Ryan lived on floor 10 of our freshman-year dorm, so naturally we met in the building, right? Wrong. We met for the first time in another dorm room across campus (Quentin/co-best man’s room). You know that sense of connection you feel when you travel to a different place and meet someone from your hometown? That ‘what are the chances of that’ feeling? The feeling of a greater purpose for why we met here instead of there. That is what it was like meeting Ryan.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. Believe it or not, my affiliation with Fort Wayne started well before Ryan invited me to her hometown. My father once told me about this ‘no-good city in the north of Indiana,’ where its locals used to throw F bombs down at him while he played on the rival hockey team. Imagine what he was thinking when I brought a Fort Wayne girl home…

Does our story show that you should go against your parents’ wishes? You can be the judge of that. But something that is not up for debate is that there would be no story if either of us did not attend IU or if we never met that day in another dorm. But peel back the layers and you will see we were always meant to be together.