Despite both attending the University of Denver, Jacob and Maisie met studying abroad in Torino, Italy the fall of their junior year. During their time there, they forged a friendship, bonding over their shared love of travel, Studio Ghibli movies and, of course, Italian language, culture and food.

An initial spark was lit between Jacob and Maisie on a day-trip to Orta San Giulio, a beautiful town with a medieval monastery on an island in the middle of an alpine lake. Initially, they were planning to go with a group of friends for All Saints Day since they had the holiday off from school, but after having a bit too much fun the night before celebrating a classmate's birthday, Jacob and Maisie were the only two who made it on the train from Torino. They ended up having a lovely day boating around the lake, checking out the monastery catacombs, and just enjoying each other's company.

They reconnected senior year following a fateful storm and power outage in the DU gym, when Jacob spotted Maisie and offered to drive her home so she wouldn't have to walk back in the rain. After that point, they built a friendship that lasted through graduation and moves to Boston and New York City to start their careers. Then on November 7, 2019, Jacob (finally) decided to call Maisie and ask if she would do him the honor of letting him be her boyfriend, to which she replied, "YES!"

Throughout the first few months of their long distance relationship, they enjoyed visiting each others' cities before the whole world shut down with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. During those uncertain times, Maisie and Jacob got to know each other, their friends and families much better. In the beginning, they formed a "bubble" with Jacob's family on Cape Cod, and also spent extended periods with Maisie's family and friends in Des Moines and NYC later on. After this, they decided they wanted to go from a long-distance relationship to "no distance," and Maisie moved to Boston in August of 2021.

Since then, Jacob and Maisie have enjoyed getting to spend every day with each other, and can't wait to celebrate their commitment to be "sempre insieme" (together forever) with all their loved ones on 10/10/2026!