Our story begins on the campus of Doane University. Sydney began attending Doane in 2015, where she studied Spanish and Psychology. In 2017, Ryan began his career at Doane studying Music Education and playing baseball. Throughout Ryan's first year, his Residential Assistant, Jordan Shanks, introduced him to her best friend Sydney. It turned out they had quite a few mutual friends and interests. The group of them were just friends throughout college. They often attended events together, including various greek life activities since they were all a part of the Doane greek system, as well as a spring break trip to Colorado. After Sydney graduated, she and Ryan parted ways. Sydney attended graduate school at UNO while Ryan was finishing his degree at Doane. Ryan graduated in 2021 and got his first teaching job at Centennial in Utica, NE. While teaching at Centennial, Ryan was living in Lincoln. Sydney was also living in Lincoln at this time, since she was doing a practicum in Crete, NE. It wasn't until a year after Ryan graduated when the two met again. Fellow groomsman, Cody Laursen, was getting married to the love of his life. Through an interesting turn of events, Sydney and Ryan ended up attending the wedding together. That night, they found a spark in each other. After many dates to coffee shops, restaurants, and the movies, Ryan and Sydney started officially dating in March of 2022. In August of 2023, Ryan proposed to Sydney at the Sunken Gardens in Lincoln, NE... She said yes!