Kaitlyn and Jake met during their senior year of high school. Even though they had gone to the same schools their whole lives and had plenty of mutual friends, their paths never crossed till Jake’s mom opened Velvet Grace. Kaitlyn started there at the beginning of senior year, and about halfway through the school year Jake started to come around more to “help”. Jake’s mom knew something was up and told him to stop distracting Kaitlyn. Eventually, they started spending time together outside of Velvet Grace – one day Jake asked Kaitlyn for a ride after school to go get his car from the repair shop, which led to Kaitlyn almost missing the bus for a basketball game she had to cheer at. Kaitlyn didn’t tell Jake that he almost made her late until many years later. Their first “date” was with two friends in -20-degree weather at Topgolf where 10 minutes in no one could feel their hands.

They both say that their first official date was at Portillo’s for Valentine’s Day before Kaitlyn left for a visit to Mizzou. The day after prom and their first (of many) White Sox games Jake asked Kaitlyn to be his girlfriend. Through their 4 years of college, Kaitlyn attending the University of Missouri, and Jake at the Illinois Institute of Technology in downtown Chicago, they were able to make a long-distance relationship thrive. There were many car rides, train rides, and flights to see each other. After 5 years together, on Jake's 23rd birthday Jake and Kaitlyn went downtown Chicago to celebrate and ended up at Navy Pier where he popped the question. Of course, she said yes, and they are looking forward to what the future holds with their puppy Finn!