Story
There are always two sides to every story, let's hear what Ryan and Hannah have to say about their relationship's unique origin.
Hannah's Version
July is an important month for Hannah and Ryan for many reasons.
Their story starts in July of 2010. Hannah and Ryan became friends on Facebook and started chatting everyday. The two talked the rest of the summer about how they were going to hang out during the upcoming school year and get to know each other more. They met up at summer orientation and exchanged class schedules and often rode the bus together to their after-school activities at the senior high school. Everything was going great until...one morning before the first period bell rang, Hannah spotted Ryan in the hallway hanging out with a bunch of nerdy ROTC buddies. She walked up to him, said hello and gave him a big hug, like she had in the weeks prior. Ryan must have been starstruck that a girl was hugging him in public because he gave her an awkward one-arm side hug, didn't say a word and walked away. Hannah thought that Ryan no longer had feelings for her or had met something else, so she sadly moved on. They didn't talk the rest of the school year :(
One year later on July 19, 2011 (and Hannah has the receipts to prove it), Ryan messaged Hannah on Facebook to try and rekindle what they had the previous summer. Hannah read the message and thought about their last interaction in the hall and didn't want to be rejected again. She didn't respond to his messages (the young folks call that ghosting). They didn't talk for 8 years after that.
Fast forward to July 25th, 2019 (screenshots provided upon request): Hannah had taken the trip of a lifetime to Greece and obviously had to post pictures on Instagram (pics or it didn't happen, right?) A few days after her trip, she gets a message from Ryan trying to shoot his shot. The last memory she had of Ryan was the nerdy, buzz-cut freshman boy that ignored her in the hallway. Needless to say, she was not interested. He sent text after text trying to win her over, but was met with rejection every single time (what a loser!) He sent funny memes, offered to bring Panera soup, flowers, wine, chocolate etc. For a while, Hannah was not interested, but then she began to realize how much of a catch Ryan was. I mean, come on, a handsome fighter pilot - a real life "Maverick and Charlie"... FULL SEND! The two long-distance dated for two years and Ryan realized he couldn't live another second without Hannah by his side. He (along with the help of the greatest sister ever, Sarah) came up with a plan to surprise Hannah on family vacation and proposed to her on the beach.
July 22, 2023: Full circle, thirteen years after meeting, Hannah and Ryan are getting married!
Ryan's Version
Ryan and Hannah first met the summer of 2010, between 8th and 9th grade, at an intermediate high school orientation held just a few weeks prior to the upcoming school year. In the weeks to follow, the two spent each day messaging each other on Facebook deciding on how they planned to meet up again to hang out or even go on a date. Despite neither of them having a driver's license or time in their busy 'end of summer' schedule, including swimming and water polo practice for Ryan and nerdy geek band practice for Hannah. As the school year began, they quickly discovered less and less time available to finally hang out with one another, and the messaging and hello's in the hallway dissipated just as frequently..
..nine years later..
Fast forward to August 2019. Ryan had just finished up with the first portion of his pilot training in Wichita Falls, TX and was planning a trip back home to Pittsburgh over the Labor Day weekend in the short break he had prior to starting the second half of his syllabus. Hannah had just returned from a trip of a lifetime in Greece eating good food, drinking great wine, and chasing exotic, tan men. Her professionally curated Instagram profile reflected all of her awesome adventures for her long list of followers to admire, one of which being Ryan, who was admittedly quite impressed by how well-traveled and beautiful Hannah had become. He soon realized now was as good a time as any to try and re-kindle their previous chats knowing she was still living at home in Pittsburgh (what a loser!) and even find the opportunity to take Hannah out on that date he promised her just shy of ten years earlier.
Unbeknownst to the high-achieving and extremely good-looking lieutenant, Hannah had underwent surgery shortly after returning from her Mediterranean excursion, and was NOT a happy camper. Ryan tried everything to win her over for her time; to include offering to bring her flowers, soup, or even accompany her during her daily ritual of binge-watching The Office. He was met with text after text of brutal rejection before being ghosted all together.
...or so he thought...
Just a few weeks later, once Hannah was finally off of her pain medication and back to work, she realized how much of a catch he was and how she had completely ruined her chances with Ryan. It was her turn to slide in his DMs and fortunately, he met her with kind words and just as much enthusiasm as he had shown in the weeks prior. Eventually, Hannah decided that it was time for her to travel again, her next destination would be to visit some of her travel buddies in Dallas. The city was only a short two-hour drive from Ryan and the two finally met that Friday night to enjoy the city together with their friends. Now, only three years later, the pair loves traveling around the world together and are very much looking forward to spending their wedding day in Pittsburgh with their close friends and family.