Ian and Joy matched on a dating app and they had a spark at first swipe. Joy was at work when she saw that she had a message from a new boy on the dating app. She was going to delete the app at midnight that night. Ian messaged her just in time. They messaged off and on that night. He was out celebrating his birthday. She thought it was cool that he was messaging her when he was out with his friends. Such a sweet thing to do. Joy of course works nights as a nurse, so she was up all night to talk with him.

It was only a couple of days later that Ian asked Joy out on a date! Ian being the nice guy that he is, suggested that they have their first date in the old market. Joy is not a quick decision-maker so she made a list on her phone of the different things that she had to decide for their first date. These things were what she was going to wear, what kind of makeup she was going to do, and how she was going to do her hair. She had Ian pick numbers and he decided.

Joy thought it was a good idea to go mini golfing for a

first date. They went to Fat Putter in the Old Market. They ended up having a tied score. They walked around the Old Market for over 6 hours talking about lots of things. As they were walking around, they decided to stop and get something to eat at Zio’s. It was there Joy learned Ian’s love for Iced Tea. She also learned how cold Iced Tea is when an entire cup of it is spilled on her by accident. Ian immediately asked her if the date was over. She said no. The date was going great before that and some spilled tea was not going to ruin the date. After Ian drove back to Lincoln, he asked Joy out again for a second date. This time the date was going to be in Lincoln. The next day they had a six-and-a-half-hour phone call!

Their second date was even better than their first date. Ian made a plan to surprise Joy with what they were going to do. On a phone call with Joy a couple of days before the date, he accidentally told her the restaurant they were going to go for dinner. Whoops! The funniest part of the date was at one of the places they went, Ian pulled a chair out for Joy and she very confidently went to the other side of sat down in the opposite chair. Ian was very confused. At the end of the date, before Joy had to drive home, she asked Ian if she could go inside to use the bathroom. He then told her about 3 different gas stations that were safe around 1130pm on a Friday night in Lincoln. She told him she should hold her hands up around her eyes like blinders so she wouldn’t see how messy the apartment might be because he was just moving in. He agreed.

The morning before Ian asked Joy to be his girlfriend at 5 am Ian texted Joy he loved her and she texted back “What!!!! No way that you just said that” and then she said, “I love you too”. Ian and Joy became boyfriend and girlfriend at the Lauritzen Gardens. They also took their very first-ever photo together that day. It was very hot that day. Joy about melted away. To cool down, they went to Christy Creme to get sherbet and then they went to the Lewis and Clark Lookout to watch airplanes in the shade.

When Joy got to Lincoln on December 5th she had no idea the proposal was happening that day. However, she was telling Ian what the nail tech told her when she was getting her nails done and Ian’s face gave it away. He spent the rest of the day trying to convince her that he would just propose a different day so that it could still be a surprise. She told Ian that since he wasn't proposing she still wanted to get some good photos of the two of them since they don’t have very many photos together. They went on a double date. The couple that they went with knew that it was still happening. Joy wanted to get on the train that took them on a ride around the outside of the zoo to see the lights. They go past a long arch of lights. Joy said that it would be a good place for pictures. Ian and the couple made eye contact and the proposal spot had now been set. Ian proposed at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo Christmas Lights. It was amazing. The ring is perfect. The pictures are amazing. The memories are wonderful.