Brandon and Grace met on July 20th 2019, while in Colorado for the rehearsal of both of their best friend's wedding. They were selected to walk down the aisle together (as a part of the wedding party). They knew they were walking together but had never actually met because at the time Brandon was stationed in Italy for the Army. The chances of them even meeting was honestly one in a million. Those first few days getting to know each other are some of their fondest memories together. As the week went on, they just got closer and closer. Eventually, Brandon had to fly back to Italy and Grace had to fly back home to Illinois. After only knowing each other for 1 week, they knew what they had was strong and decided to continue the relationship by calling and facetiming each other every day. It didn't take long before they fell in love and were committed to having a long-distance relationship. Brandon and Grace were long-distance for the entire first year of the relationship. Which was extremely hard at times, but really strengthened and solidified their love. A year later, they were thrilled to be able to finally live and do life together. Brandon was then stationed at Fort Bragg, NC where they shared their first apartment together and lived there for a year. After their lease was up, they decided to move to Illinois where they bought their first home together in Ottawa! But just one day before the big move, Brandon was rapidly deployed to Afghanistan. Amongst all the chaos, Grace still had to move across the country without him. However, it wasn't long before he was back home again in their first house with Grace and their pets; Lily, Wubz, and Mr. Butters. :) After another year went by, doing lots of home improvement projects, Grace and Brandon planned a trip to New Orleans for a vacation.

One evening while walking around town, Brandon got down on one knee and proposed on a beautiful night overlooking the city in New Orleans, on March 4th, 2023. Of course, she said yes, and the rest is history!