"Surprise!" | Jenny + Ryan

The bride and groom met online – but not how you may think, it wasn’t a dating site but the ubiquitous book of faces or more commonly known, Facebook!

If it wasn’t for Facebook they may never have met.

Jenny was living in Victoria and Ryan in Vernon (about 7hrs drive apart). It all started in August of 2011 when one of their common friends made a post on Facebook to which Jenny made a cheeky comment about Cheetos. Ryan had made a comment unbeknownst to Jenny, so he received notification about Jenny’s comment. He wittingly responded to Jenny’s comment, quickly sparking flirty back and forth banter. This rapidly evolved into personal messages, and then Ryan flying Jenny to see him so they could meet. Their first meeting involved Jenny knee’s almost buckling because she was so nervous as she was unsure how to greet Ryan… was she supposed to hug him, kiss him or what? Ryan got extra brownie points by showing up with her favourite flowers, lilies. The first weekend “date” together was amazing – a picnic by the river, Strongbow ciders in the sun, first kisses, and both being huge dog lovers – playing with Ryan’s pitbull Keira!

The relationship continued to blossom, and there were many trips back and forth between Victoria and Vernon. Their hearts were whispering the same message – they wanted to move on to the next stage. Jenny nervously asked Ryan to pick up and move to Victoria! 

The day he said yes and was willing to give up his life in Vernon for her, was the day she knew he was “the” one.

It wasn’t a hard decision for Ryan as he knew that he and Victoria shared something very special! One of Jenny’s fondest moments of Ryan was watching him wakeboard so soon after his major motorcycle accident where he was lucky to be alive – Ryan had such an incredible attitude about his entire recovery process and the strength he exhibited in overcoming his physical limitations was amazing. Another memorable moment was Ryan’s version of “decanting” a bottle of wine by popping the cork, replugging the bottle with it and shaking it to aerate it! Ryan remembers his most memorable moment very clearly – when Jenny shared with him that she got butterflies in her tummy every time she heard from him. Until then, he wasn’t quite sure that she was that interested in him.

Ryan’s birthday was fast approaching and Jenny decided to throw a huge surprise birthday party for him – her closest friends were excited and were all in on the planning! They had a full day planned and everyone pitched in decorating, and cooking. Jenny was SO, SO proud for being sneaky and not letting the big secret slip! She bragged to everyone how proud she was that he had no idea! Jenny and Ryan went out and returned home to everyone yelling “Surprise!”! Jenny had done it – she actually pulled it off! Ryan was very touched, so much so that he made a little speech and thanked everyone for coming – she was grinning from ear to ear! She smugly thought she was the best girlfriend ever.

Ryan was just wrapping up his “thank you” speech, when all of a sudden he dropped…to one knee!

Jenny was speechless and had NO idea it was coming. Ryan had orchestrated the whole event! Month’s earlier he suggested to one of Jenny’s best friends to convince Jenny to throw a surprise birthday party for Ryan! All of Jenny’s friends knew what the real surprise was for and all happily played along!

The wedding planning was simple – they both knew they wanted a wedding that would reflect who they were; stress free and fun loving (and somewhere hot)! Mexico was decided upon and beautiful Puerto Vallarta was the chosen venue! It being the first time Ryan had traveled anywhere made it even more special. The wedding day couldn’t have been more perfect – sun shining, warm ocean breezes, family and close friends!

When I asked if Jenny and Ryan had any romantic stories to share, Jenny’s reply was ” sorry, we don’t have a ton of crazy romantic stories – we have just always have a lot of fun and love each other every day :)”

Jenny’s response from her heart was the most romantic, heartwarming and beautiful ending to their wedding story and beginning of their new journey together.