Rachel and Stuart met at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Rachel became friends with Stuart because one of her best friends was working in the clinic with him and his close friend. They quickly found friendship in a tight knit group of four. Months later, they all took a trip to Portage, Wisconsin where they realized they had much more in common. Unfortunately, Rachel was leaving Davenport that next weekend to start her internship in Michigan while Stuart would remain in Iowa for the remainder of the program. In those next few months, Stuart drove multiple times to visit Rachel on the weekends and spent time getting to know her and her family more. In June 2023, both Rachel and Stuart graduated from Palmer with doctorates in Chiropractic. After graduation they took a month off and traveled to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, to the Best family cottage, "Horn In". They took time to rest and relax on the lake with Rachel’s family and close friends, enjoying fireworks, boat rides, the sun, and great food.

Stuart started the transition of taking over a practice in Sylvania, Ohio. Rachel took a job in Riverview, Michigan for a little under a year as an Associate Chiropractor. In July 2024, she moved to Perrysburg, Ohio and began the process of taking over a practice.

Rachel and Stuart spent most of the summer going to various gatherings with friends and family, exploring their hobbies, or finding a boat to enjoy the weekends on. Their first free weekend in August, Stuart suggested they head to his family’s lake house in Coldwater, Michigan to check out the new boat. Rachel was hesitant because she had just moved, it was the first free weekend they had and was looking forward a low-key weekend. But if you know them, they can never pass up good a lake day! While packing, Stuart told Rachel to pack a fancier outfit to go to dinner with his Parents, Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle. This was all a plan, unbeknownst to Rachel.

Getting to the lake and enjoying the boat was easy. The weather unfortunately had different plans. It was rainy and cloudy for most of the day. When it was time for dinner, the sun had just started to peek out of the clouds and the rain had moved on. While Rachel and Stuart both got ready, Stuart’s Dad suggested they get on the boat so he could take some action pictures with his new drone camera. While they got out on the water, with the drone trailing them in the boat, Stuart asked Rachel to stand on the back of the boat to get a nice picture and when she turned around to get Stuart in the picture, she instead found him on one knee with a little black box in hand. Neither one of them remember what exactly was said but through tears in both eyes, Stuart asked the question and Rachel said, “Yes!”.