Grace & Brendan

December 20, 2025 • Ankeny, Iowa

Grace & Brendan

December 20, 2025 • Ankeny, Iowa

Our Story

Grace's Story

It was a normal Sunday night when I was heading to my church connection group. I was chatting with my leader when this new guy walked in and sat down. Immediately, I looked at my leader and said, "Dibs." Later that week, some of our group was going to Trivia. In efforts to be 'friendly' I sent Brendan a message on GroupMe inviting him. Brendan never read my message.. So two weeks later, I wanted to be 'friendly' again and messaged him on Instagram inviting him to trivia again. He finally answered! Although he denied my trivia request, Brendan kept the conversation going and made an effort to get to know me. A week later, he asked me to coffee to 'make-up' for not going to trivia. We met at Smokey Row in Ankeny and chatted over coffee for 2.5 hours. Our next date was two days later at our favorite restaurant, 30 Hop, and we were official about a month later. We dated for around a year before we got engaged and are excited for our future!

Brendan's Story

I was new to the Ankeny area and joined a bible study group in an effort to plug myself into a community. On my first day at group, I met this cute blonde girl to whom I constantly made eye contact with all night. Later that week, Grace personally invited me to go to trivia night with the rest of the group... but I declined. I told her I would make it up to her though, so I asked her if she wanted to get coffee together at Smokey Row in Ankeny. Our coffee date lasted two hours and was the best conversation I had in a long time. A week later we went on a bowling date in Ankeny and ended the night talking on her apartment balcony until after midnight. A few days later I asked her to be my girlfriend. Over the next ten months we continued to make memories together and fell in love. Our engagement makes me so excited for what the future holds.