I met Jade Ryan through a mutual friend. The night we met was super random and casual as it was just a group of friends hanging out in a dorm living room. I, being an introvert, just sat around mostly observing the conversation. I saw Jade Ryan when she walked in, of course thought she was cute, and proceeded to sneakily ease drop on her conversations throughout the night. As the night went on I worked my way over toward her and struck up a conversation. Our conversation was casual and I didn’t think too much of it. After all, I hadn’t been single for very long and wasn’t looking for a relationship. However, I did text one of my best friends, Austin, when I got back to my dorm to let him know my thoughts. The text read, “Jade Ryan😍😍.” Little did I know she was interested enough to get my snap chat from Kara, and we began talking a few days later. We began to hang out from there, and I was so nervous the first time we hung out in person that I threw up before class that day. I couldn’t believe that I was this nervous over a girl. It didn’t take long into us hanging out for me to see how special she is. I would soon ask her on a date, because I had to show off my fantastic line dancing skills ;) . After a few dates I asked her to be my girlfriend and never looked back. I was quickly falling in love with her and I had never felt this way before. I couldn’t help but think about what my life would look like with her as my wife. It didn’t even take two weeks before I couldn’t help but confess my love for her. We’ve never looked back since. Our relationship has always been very intentional, which naturally led to conversations about marriage very early on. I knew Jade Ryan was going to be my wife just a couple months in. I asked her dad for her hand in marriage last Christmas, and I proposed to Jade Ryan in my backyard in Evansville, IN on April 1, 2023. I know there’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. Jade Ryan is the most beautiful girl, inside and out, she is so loving, caring, compassionate, funny (sometimes), supportive, and most importantly my best friend. I can’t wait to marry the love of my life next summer!


September 3rd, 2021 I went to my friend Kara's apartment where she had some friends hanging out. As soon as I walked in, I saw a really cute guy sitting on the couch and got so nervous. I may or may not have asked what everyone's names were just so I could find out his.... And he did not like when I asked if he went by Nate or Nathan haha! After finding out Nathanael was a RA in a dorm called TK, it all clicked. Hours earlier in that same day, TK hosted a s'mores event I went to, and after getting extremely messy and having to go wash my hands inside, I pointed to a really cute RA's picture on a bulletin board saying to my friend, “Hey! He's cute!” and walked away without reading his name on the board. I knew immediately that cute RA I pointed out earlier, was the same guy sitting in front of me.
After learning things about Nathanael, including that he’s a childcare volunteer at a Christian church (which meant he liked kids and loved the Lord!) and loves country music, I knew I'd have to get Kara to be my wing-woman! The next morning I noticed he followed me on Instagram just minutes after we left Kara's (so I knew he must've searched me up - so I thought that was probably a very good sign!) That next night, I told Kara I thought Nathanael was cute and she said “JADE RYAN! You would be so good for Nathanael, he definitely thinks you're beautiful... I have never seen him look at someone like he did when he looked at you!” So in typical Gen Z fashion, I added him on snapchat and he quickly added me back. After a few days, we started having conversations via snaps and then we finally made plans to go to a bagel/coffee shop on campus during convocation hour. We had more one on one time getting to know each other better and he stayed to talk to me until the very last minute before his next class started.
Not soon after that, he invited me to go on a night walk, and with me not being a fan of the dark, walking down Belmont’s neighboring streets at night scared me. However, on that walk, I felt a sense of peace and security and knew Nathanael wouldn't hesitate to protect me (I literally felt that too because he tried to show off how quick his reflexes were if someone jumped out at me and he ending up whacking me in the chest instead haha!) On our walk, I noticed he did what my mom always told me a man should do for me- move to walk on the side of the sidewalk closest to the road. We ended up walking for hours and having such a deep, intentional conversation that night. I came back to my room very giddy and had never been like before.
We went on walks almost every single night after the first one (including until 3am the night before I had to wake up at 5:30am the next morning!) With less than 2 weeks of nightly walks, Nathanael asked me to go on a date line dancing after he talked so much about how good of a line dancer he was. On October 2nd, 2021 we went out to dinner and line dancing, and then came back to my apartment to hang out and we ended up having our first kiss! We went on our second date October 9th to dinner, and then our third October 18th. The third date he brought flowers to my door and when he hugged me I could hear his heart pounding out of his chest! After our date, Nathanael and I sat down to talk about where our intentions were with each other and after, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.
We spent time with each other almost every day since and he made me happier than I ever thought I could be. He made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, treated me better than I could've ever asked for, and pushed me to become a better version of myself very quickly. I knew I found a guy who would give me way more than I deserve and was the type of man my parents always told me I deserved. I found myself liking him more and more and right around 2 weeks of dating - he told me he loved me... and I said it back! The timeline of saying that is so crazy, but I had no doubt that I loved him! We continued having such intentional conversations and conversations about our future began shifting from “wow you could potentially be my husband” into “I want you to become my husband” that eventually got to “I know you're going to be my husband” during a trip to his hometown over New Years. Again, I know the timeline is crazy, but the cheesy “when you know, you know” saying became a reality for us.

Since the beginning, I've grown to love Nathanael more and more every day. He has become my best friend and biggest supporter, and we have been through some of the best times while also going through some very low times together. Nathanael continues to push me to be the best version of myself, pursuing me daily, and loving me constantly. I have no doubt he will make the most incredible husband and one day will be an amazing father to our children. When I look at Nathanael, I see a beautiful man of God that I am immensely blessed to have found. He is better than any man I could've ever prayed for. I am so excited to step into this next journey of marriage with him and cannot wait for what the Lord has in store for our relationship.