The story begins, not with Laurel and Michael, but with Ashley and Luke - friends and today's Maid of Honor and Best Man. One day in mid-2021, these two came up with a plan to get Laurel and Michael together and see what would happen.

From the start, Laurel was suspicious Ashley would not produce a real person. On the other side, Michael was oblivious to the setup and used the day in the park as an excuse not to study. But over that afternoon, the two were "accidentally" left alone at times so they could chat.

After a few more weeks of chatting, Laurel asked out Michael to coffee. The first date was pushed back due to car problems, but they were able to take advantage of a small window before Michael's next exam to meet up. Fortunately, Laurel knew the first date went well when Michael casually mentioned meeting up after the exam was over.

A board game here, a dinner there, and of course playing games on Nintendo Switch filled their date nights with fun. Sometimes, they would even spend hours walking around Omaha just to learn more about each other.

Michael first thought Laurel might be the one during the first visit to the family farm. The family dog, Scooby, was behind a baby gate as Michael and Laurel were chatting, and he was very upset Laurel was allowed into the house without passing his inspection first. Laurel quickly hopped the baby gate to let Scooby get familiar - despite the fact she wasn't sure if she would be allergic to him. Michael loved the selflessness and spontaneity shown in that moment, and fortunately no allergies were had that day!

Laurel doesn't have a clear moment of thinking that Michael might be the one despite being the one to say "I love you" first; it was more of a meandering into love rather than falling. What started out as a casual and comfortable relationship towards the tail end of the pandemic became something deeper. Laurel is not what you would call 'social' or 'outgoing,' so her looking forward to seeing Michael, and outright missing him during times where schedules would not line up, was a massive indicator of the depths of affection and devotion.

Michael got the text the ring was ready one day summer 2023. Michael figured he would pick it up the following day after a volleyball tournament with some coworkers, but Michael's plans changed dramatically when he tore his Achilles in the middle of the first game.

Now on crutches and unable to get down on one knee safely, Michael had to get creative. As Laurel was helping him rest after surgery, she was playing the latest Pokémon game looking for extremely rare, different colored monsters called shiny Pokémon. Michael was able to sneak a peek at Laurel's shiny collection and find a couple she wanted but didn't have yet. After many weeks of hunting - from the couch with a leg in a boot (and frantically hiding any progress from Laurel in future dates) - Michael found 12 specific shiny Pokémon to be given to Laurel in the proposal.

Once Michael could drive again, he made a dinner reservation with a nudge and a wink that something special would happen that day - and having Ashley drop off a dress and an additional hint just in case. Michael arrived at Laurel's place very early to trade all the shiny Pokémon to her on their Switch consoles, including 3 with special names - "Will" (a lobster), "You" (a rare cat/fox/dog that can choose to evolve in many ways), and "Marry Me?" (two mice holding hands).

With the last one, Michael was (finally) able to get down on one knee, Laurel said yes, and the rest is history.