Many, many years ago in the year of 2013, Ben and Ivana met on Halloween night at a Glenbard East High School party. As most know, Ben isn’t great with his words, so he pretty much followed Ivana around as a dog would with its owner. For some reason, Ivana thought that was cute. By the end of the night, Ben built up the courage to walk Ivana out to her car and hugged her. Such a big step for Ben. Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t keep rolling. It took about 6 months of snapchatting before Ben finally asked for Ivana’s phone number. Better late than never.

After a few dinner and movie dates, Ben and Iva made it official. They started hanging out a lot and even brought each other around their friends and family (with the exception of Ivana, that took quite some time). By the end of highschool the two became inseparable, which brought upon the decision to date throughout college while living in different states. Although there were some bumps along the way, they ultimately made it through. Shortly after, Ben and Ivana started facing their “post college depression” which in Ben’s mind initiated an impulsive move to Phoenix, AZ (lets be honest, Ben just followed her there). This was the first time they were officially on their own. After figuring out how to cook, clean, pay bills and even exterminate ants out of their pantry, the two became a lot closer and learned how to work as a team.

Around the beginning of 2023, Ivana was invited to a relatives wedding in Serbia, her home country. Ben, once again, decided to tag along and they decided to make an extended trip out of it. They visited Rome, Montenegro as well as some cities and national parks in Croatia. Ivana made jokes about getting engaged at these places but little did she know, Ben had the ring hidden in his backpack all along. Eventually they made it to Serbia to meet up with Ivana’s family for her relatives' wedding. Ivana’s sister, Nevena, decided to surprise Ivana on the proposal date. It worked out well because Ivana was becoming suspicious of something. Nevena scouted some places, and eventually came up with a great spot at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Ivana’s favorite city, Novi Sad. She said YES :)