It all started with a Bumble match gone wrong. Jordan & Brad matched on Bumble in December of 2018 while in their senior year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jordan posed to Brad, “Hey Brad! If you could describe yourself with one 90s or early 2000s song, what would it be?”, to which Brad responded “All Star by Smash Mouth. Specifically right at the moment when Shrek bursts open his out house door.”They exchanged a few lighthearted messages, but then.... Jordan ghosted him. A few days later, Brad had deleted his profile and was gone.


A few months later, Jordan was walking with a friend on campus and told him about a cute guy she’d matched with on Bumble in her friend’s fraternity, named Brad. This friend said, “No way! I live with him! I’m going to tell him!” Jordan, embarrassed about admitting this creepy crush on a near-stranger, begged him not to. Alas, this friend walks into his house, immediately runs into Brad in the kitchen, and shares this exciting news. And then it was Brad’s turn.


Brad bided his time, looking for the perfect moment. Afraid to make the first move with a message out of the blue to a stranger he had never met, he decided to wait patiently until she posted her next Instagram story so he could swoop in with a reply. On the night before his last college final exam, Brad finally saw his opportunity: Jordan posted proudly celebrating her senior banquet award for the superlative “Most likely to bring her own horses to the Old Town Road.” Brad seized the moment. Three messages after he slid into her DMs, Jordan had given him her number.


With graduation looming two days away, Brad and Jordan were each out on campus with their respective friends, soaking up the last bits of college. Seeing the fleeing opportunity to connect, Brad mustered up the courage to go meet Jordan at the classiest establishment in town: The Red Lion. Not even a $10 cover charge could deter him. Brad entered the side beer garden where he would finally be introduced to Jordan by a friend.


They spent the next few days at graduation ceremonies with their families and friends while coordinating random run-ins with each other. They watched the sunrise on the quad. They hung out on the couch that Brad and his roommates kept on their front porch. They snuck into the football stadium at night with friends. They even stayed after their friends left the stadium for what would be their first ever dance. It was while twirling each other in the north end zone of an empty Memorial Stadium that they realized they had a real connection. They each stayed in Champaign a few extra days, and went on their first date at Watsons in Champaign followed by the Blind Pig Brewery. Brad and Jordan each moved home to the suburbs, and they shared their first real world date at the Morton Arboretum hunting for troll sculptures together.


Four and a half years later, December 9, 2023, Brad chose the same location of that troll hunt to propose to Jordan at the Morton Arboretum Illumination lights.


Now, we can’t believe we are planning our wedding! We look forward to celebrating together with family and friends (new and old). We would not be here without you, and we can’t wait to start our future together with you by our side!