After meeting briefly at a bar in January 2023, Ben DMed Stephanie on Instagram asking to take her out to dinner. A few weeks later they went on their first date at Rose's in East Grand Rapids. They did not even realize by the time they were done with dinner that they were the last table there. They were so in their own little world that they did not notice that all the other customers were gone & the staff had every table cleaned up and were waiting on them to be done. Whoops!

Since their first date, they have been practically inseparable. It did not matter what or where, if you saw one of them, the other was not far behind. They did not just fall in love; they also became each other's best friend. By cheering on each other during their sporting events, trying new restaurants together, traveling, & with lots of sweet treats their relationship was able to bloom into something they both knew was for the long haul.

After quite a few months of the talking stage, Stephanie & Ben officially starting dating April 18th, 2023. Once Ben graduated from Davenport he moved to Dundee, MI to start his first big boy job, while Stephanie went to Kalamazoo, MI to play her last year of college soccer at Western Michigan University. After a little over a year of "medium distance" they both moved back to Grand Rapids, MI where they currently live together with their golden retriever, Koda.

Ben & Stephanie got engaged March 12th, 2025, in the Cayman Islands. With the help of her older sister and a few of Stephanie's amazing best friends, Ben was able to surprise Stephanie with her dream proposal!