Morgan and Ryan crossed paths many times, but they first met in 2018, at the end of their senior year at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Born and raised in Overland Park, Kansas, Morgan moved to Colorado with her mom and sister in 2012. She started the seventh grade in Fort Collins and transferred to Rocky Mountain High School in 2016 after moving in with her stepdad, who happened to live four houses down from the Thompsons. Ryan was born and raised in Fort Collins.

During the second semester of senior year, Morgan and her friends took an Adventure P.E. class and met many of Ryan's friends.

Morgan and Ryan soon found themselves with a group of mutual friends. The group would meet up often for rainy games of soccer and football, and go on late-night drives to nowhere in particular.

Eventually, Morgan realized she lived just down the street from Ryan (he was already aware of this), but they remained 'acquaintances' for a while longer.

After graduating high school, Ryan attended the University of Colorado (CU) in Boulder, about an hour south of Fort Collins, and Morgan went to college at the University of Wyoming (UW) in Laramie, about an hour north of Fort Collins.

Though they were in different states for college, they would see each other during school breaks when the friend group reunited. Morgan and Ryan eventually got to know each other better and became good friends. After their first summer break in college ended and they returned to school, they stayed in touch and texted each other almost every day.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to close in the spring of Morgan and Ryan's second year of college. Classes were entirely online, and Morgan and Ryan were once again living down the street from each other.

After a spring and summer full of hiking, fingerpainting, frisbee, stargazing, chess, family dinners, game nights, and countless walks, they finally "officially" started dating in September 2020.

Campuses eventually reopened and they found themselves navigating a long-distance relationship.

In May 2021, Ryan graduated from CU with a degree in biochemistry, a minor in economics, and a public health certificate, and began working for a metallurgical lab in Fort Collins.

They were slightly less long-distance going into the next year, as Morgan completed her marketing degree at UW. After she graduated the following year, they spent the summer traveling with their families before moving in together just before the start of the next school year.

Morgan began working at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins while Ryan started his Bachelor of Economics. After the school year, they spent yet another summer traveling with their families before moving across the country.

Ryan was accepted to the University of Maryland's Master of Applied Economics program and Morgan began working for a law firm in Washington, DC. They got engaged in April 2024 and are so excited to be married in August!

Ceremony

Reception