Luke and Audrey first met through mutual friends during college. After only hanging out in groups a few times, Luke tagged along on a road trip across the country to visit Audrey during a summer she spent in Washington. Leading the group on one stunning hike after another, Luke wondered the whole trip who this determined, nature loving gal was. From there, the pair stayed in touch and continued to grow closer as friends.

After graduating in 2019, Luke took a job in Grand Rapids and needed a roommate. Fortunately, a room had just opened up in the house Audrey and two of her girlfriends were renting. When COVID-19 sent the other roommates out of the house, Luke and Audrey stayed, spending their quarantined days going on long walks with Howie, reading on the back porch and sharing beers late into the night…as friends. While their relationship continued to be strictly platonic, they both quietly took note of how much they enjoyed that month together.

For the next three years, Luke and Audrey lived in separate cities, catching up every few months over weekend trips to South Bend or Grand Rapids. During the summers, they would also spend time at Luke’s parent’s house on Lake Lapeer. Audrey – having not missed a trip to Metamora since she was first invited in 2019 – would jokingly ask every summer if she could be an “adopted Gingell.”

In 2023, Luke was placed in Grand Rapids for his clinical rotations and was again in need of a roommate. The pair had joked about living together again, but when Audrey had her housing plans serendipitously fall through this jest become a reality. Having both recently exited relationships, romance was far from their minds as they moved in and worked to make their new space cozy.

The first few months in their new living situation felt idyllic. From their trips to Lake Michigan and bike rides through millennium park to backyard grill outs and movie nights they quickly became inseparable. As the pair started organizing their meal and sleep schedules around each other they began to realize a new depth in their connection. Although reminiscent of the feeling they experienced in 2019, this shared understanding now had more context and substance from the years spent in each other’s lives.

Their first unofficial date was to see Poor Things at the theater, and as they walked out, Luke casually slung his arm around Audrey’s shoulders and told her that he’d “Never gone to the movies with a girl before.” A few weeks later, they found themselves at a New Year’s party, leaving early at 11:45 p.m., but ending up on their couch talking until 4 a.m. They always could talk for hours - about anything and everything. A few weeks after that, Luke gathered his courage to ask Audrey about their relationship and what her thoughts were about a romantic future.

Fast forward to October 22, 2024, where the couple had planned a trip to Lake Michigan to enjoy the changing fall colors. As they got closer to Hoffmaster State Park, Luke began acting a little… off. He was wearing jeans and a collared shirt (for the beach?) and had not so smoothly suggested that Audrey bring her camera. During the hike to their favorite undisclosed dune location Luke was uncharacteristically silent and bashful. Shortly after they had nested themselves on a blanket and begun taking in the crisp autumn day, Luke asked Audrey to take a photo of him. As she raised the camera to her eye, Luke got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and asked the all-important question.

For Audrey, it was an easy “Yes,” as much of what she needed to know to confidently give her answer she had derived from their friendship. Luke clearly felt similarly after waiting only eight months to purchase a ring. Interestingly, Audrey had been telling her family for years that she was going to marry Luke. They even had made a pact back in 2019 to get married if they were both single at forty, but it turns out they didn’t have to wait that long.