Jacob and Victoria met Victoria's freshman and Jacob's junior year of college (Fall 2017) at All Saints Orthodox Church in Bloomington, IN and were both involved in the Bloomington chapter of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. Both participated in Church life and OCF meetings throughout their time at Indiana University. At IU, Jacob was studying biology on a Pre-PA track while Victoria was studying biology and Spanish on a Pre-Med track.

Four years later, Jacob asked Victoria to join him for dinner at Mother Bears. They spent the evening talking about the Church, medicine, and what they wanted their lives to look like in the future. Needless to say, their ideals and ideas matched up quite well.

Jacob decided to take Victoria birding at Hoosier National Forest. They went hiking for a bit before being caught in the rain. After taking shelter under some thicker foliage, they waited approximately 20 minutes for the rain to cease. They found a small clearing on another trail, and though it was Jacob's intent to distract Victoria with some birds, there were none to be seen. Eventually, he decided not to wait on the birds and popped the question. Of course, Victoria said "yes", and not 10 minutes later there were plenty of birds on the trail.