Our Story
Her Version
It was July 4th, 2020. A friend invited me to join her at a fourth of July pool party hosted by the guy she was dating. Traditionally, my family has a picnic on the fourth, but it was canceled because of the pandemic so I agreed to go. The weather cooperated perfectly and helped to set stage for an incredible day that—little did I know at the time—would change my life!
Ryan and a friend of his joined the group in the pool where we were introduced. Throughout the afternoon we chatted about our favorite city restaurants, wine, careers, and travel over games of pool basketball, BBQ-ing, and (probably too many) cans of White Claw and glasses of Mumm Napa. Ryan and I spoke in disbelief that we had never met before despite both living in the city and going to the same places. We hung out for the better part of the evening, until fireworks ended. I remember leaving that night and reflecting on the conversation we had. My first impression was that he was kind, authentic, cultured, interesting, and funny.
A group of us became fast friends and exchanged numbers to plan our next hangout. I got a text from Ryan outside of the group the following Monday morning. He remembered I mentioned interest in marketing positions at Philips—where he worked at the time—and followed up with open job reqs. Our conversation continued…
Restaurants were still closed from COVID, so Ryan asked me to a picnic on Washington’s Landing, where he lived, for our first date. I wasn’t sure if he would bring plastic solo cups for the drinks (which is a hilarious thought now that I know him) so when I offered to make drinks, French 76s, I made sure he had champagne flutes. I realized my “proper glassware” concern was completely unwarranted when I showed up to an impressive and well planned picnic spread: a blanket and proper, wicker picnic basket with all of the accouterments, a Penn Mac charcuterie and cheese spread and lemon bite desserts. I remember thinking that conversation came so easily and my first impressions were further solidified. When the date ended, there was a mutual sense that this would be the first of many.
We spent every weekend together from that day forward and Washington’s Landing picnic dates have become an anniversary tradition. We also returned to the house in Sewickley (thanks to Jeff for the perfectly manicured lawn!) where we first met and to our Washington’s Landing picnic spot for our engagement photos.
His Version
I had spent the morning and early afternoon boating with friends. One of my friends invited me to tag along to a 4th of July pool party in Sewickley. She really wanted to go to this party and I was a little hesitant. I knew the guy hosting the party, and he was able to convince me to come by telling me that there would be “plenty of single ladies” at his pool.
A few hours later, we arrived at the party, said hello to the host, grabbed some lime flavored White Claws and jumped in the pool. It was 2020 and White Claws were the popular drink. There were not many people in the pool, but thankfully Steph was.
Steph and her friend swam over and introduced themselves. I thought to myself – “wow, why is this gorgeous woman coming over to talk to me”. I think she really wanted me to grab her a White Claw so that she didn’t have to get out of the pool. I grabbed them fresh drinks and pulled my cooler over to the edge of the pool.
We all quickly engaged in conversation – who we were, how we knew the host, where we lived, and what we did for work. I remember how easy it was to talk to Steph – she was intelligent, had a lot of similar hobbies, and started what turned into many hours of wonderful conversation. The part that surprised me most about her was when she went into the house and came out with Dixie cup shots of “Titos” and slices of lemon. I say “Titos” because to this day we still think it was a horrible cheap vodka poured into a Titos bottle.
A few more people got into the pool and we began to play pool basketball. I quickly learned how competitive Steph is – I am pretty sure the game turned into “monkey in the middle” rather than basketball. After the game, we started talking about careers. I was working for Philips Healthcare at the time, and Steph was interested in my background and how I got started in the healthcare field. Steph was in retail marketing and wanted to move into the healthcare marketing industry.
As the night came to an end, we watched fireworks, exchanged numbers, followed each other on Instagram and made plans to go boating the following weekend. I got home that night and thought to myself how amazing Steph is and how I couldn’t wait to see her the following weekend.
Monday morning rolled around and I decided to search the internal Philips career site for marketing jobs. I thought this would be a good way to reach out to her privately rather than in the group text that we had going. Thankfully, Philips had a few positions listed and this was my opening. We started texting a lot between Monday and Tuesday and I finally asked her out for Saturday, July 11, 2020.
Since it was during Covid and most restaurants were closed or had limited seating, I decided to plan a picnic instead. Steph mentioned that she loved charcuterie and cheese, so I went to Penn Mac and picked up enough food to feed an army. I also bought one of those old-school wicker picnic baskets. Steph offered to bring drinks and she wanted to make a French 76. She was worried I would show up with red solo cups and asked if I had champagne flutes and I assured her that I would bring them.
We had a wonderful picnic date on Washington’s Landing – even with the number of geese that wanted to join us. I recall she was so impressed with the picnic basket and all the work I put into the food selection and making sure everything was prepared. She didn’t realize how much of a planner I am and that I am always on time.
We had an amazing couple hours of conversation. Honestly, I can’t even recall what we talked about but it flowed so naturally and I do not think we ever stopped talking. We lined up plans to see each other again and our days were quickly filled with texting during the day, Facetime at night, and hanging out almost every weekend since.
