It all started at a birthday party in February 2023. Ryan walked up to Isabella and started dancing with her, asking how she knew the birthday girl (shoutout to Annabel Morgan!).

They quickly discovered they both spent their summers on the South Jersey shore—Isabella in Margate and Ryan in Avalon—and from there, the conversation never stopped. Ryan was so sweet that Isabella couldn’t help but ask if he was at least 25, since she was 27. “Yup,” he said confidently. (He was 23. She found out after their first date.)

By March, they were officially together, and two years later, Ryan pulled off the surprise of a lifetime.

Isabella was in San Francisco on a trip, texting Ryan all day while his location showed him safely back in Austin. What she didn’t know was that—with the help of her software engineer brother-in-law, Miguel Salinas—Ryan had tied his location to his laptop and was secretly across the country in San Francisco, working behind the scenes with a florist and photographer to plan the perfect surprise.

That evening, her friends Cara Rosengard and Illiana Reed told her they were meeting someone for drinks who “just needed a little more time to get ready.” When they walked into a room at the Fairmont Hotel, Isabella discovered a pathway of rose petals leading to the balcony—where Ryan was waiting for her, with the San Francisco skyline glowing behind him.

She was completely shocked. It was magical. And now, they can’t wait to celebrate the start of forever with you.