The year is 2015. Ian is living in West Chester on Lacey Street with his good pal Jeff Holland and a few other friends. The plan is to go to the bars but have some people over beforehand for a little pregame session. Keith asks if Caroline, his now wife, can come over to the pregame with some of her friends. Ian being the nice and welcoming guy that he is says “Absolutely they can come over. The more the merrier.” In walks Leah Murphy. Little did they know, by walking into 123 Lacey Street, it was going to change the trajectory of their lives forever.

I think it’s safe to say that Ian was immediately drawn to Leah. She was cute, funny and charming. They immediately hit it off and the group had a fun time that night. It wasn’t until after when the girls left and after Ian had himself a few rum and cokes, he decided he wanted to pursue Leah. So he did what any guy would do that situation: stalked Instagram and found the Instagram handle of her best friend Kelsea (shout out Kelsea, the real MVP of the story). He asked something along the lines of “what’s your friend Leah’s phone number”. Kelsea herself being a few drinks deep, left Ian on read. This greatly saddened Ian, but alas, life moves on.

Throughout the next 4 years or so would bring random encounters and Instagram DM chats between the two. They ran into each other a few times when Leah would visit West Chester with Kelsea. He would randomly slide into Leah’s Instagram DM’s whenever she would post a story, just as an excuse to talk to her, and this was a common occurrence. He would bother Caroline often asking about Leah, asking when she’s going to invite Kelsea and her back out in West Chester. Ian knew he was being annoying about it, but he didn’t care.

So as the years passed and Ian’s and Leah’s lives continued and sometimes intertwining, the connection was getting closer. It wasn’t until late fall/early winter of 2018 when Leah finally responded to one of Ian’s Instagram DM’s and asked “When are you finally going to ask me on a date?” From then on forward, they would talk every day.

It didn’t take long for them to become “official”, as the kids would say. It was New Years Eve, about 30 minutes before the New Year when Leah turned to Ian and asked “Are you ever going to ask me to be your girlfriend?” And the truth was, he was going to ask her. But he was glad that she beat him to the punch. They were officially girlfriend and boyfriend! How cute!

2019 flew by quickly – Ian and Leah hung out basically every weekend, as well as a few times during the week. Leah being the trooper she is, would make the daunting drive from Philadelphia to West Chester at least once a week. Ian had won a trip to Greece for his sales performance at work the year prior, and he asked Leah to come with him on the trip to Greece and then England afterwards to visit his English family.

2020 came around and Ian was planning on moving into an apartment by himself in Media. That is until Covid struck, and we all know that story. So Ian and Leah made an easy decision – she would move in for the unforeseeable future – fast forward 3 years later and they were still living together at the apartment. They crushed Covid together, and went through all the other things that life threw at them as they made their way through their late twenties into their early thirties.

After 4 and a half years, Ian had finally made the decision that he wanted to take the next step and buy a ring. So he recruited Kelsea to help him find the perfect ring, and the two went on a couple of secret missions to find it. And sure enough, the perfect ring was procured and purchased. Ian planned a weekend in Philadelphia that he was going to propose to her, disguising it as just a random mini vacation to get away for the weekend. His plan was to go to breakfast, go back to the hotel to do an “expense report” (he really did have to do an expense report, needless to say he was a little late turning it in), and propose after breakfast. Shannon, Leah’s sister, was given a key to the room and decorated the whole room for them. But Leah, being the strong-willed person she is, decided that it best to just go out into Philadelphia and that Ian can do the expense report later. After several attempts at trying to convince her to go to the room first, and then ultimately losing that battle, Ian pivoted and called an audible – he would propose after walking around Philly for the day. 25 stores later, 2 meals eaten, 2 coffees later, and about 6 hours of walking, they were finally headed back to the hotel room. Ian had to stop once or twice because he was having a mini panic attack, and Leah had zero idea why. They got back to the room, Leah started crying, Ian proposed – and the rest is history!

We are looking forward to getting married and celebrating the night with friends and family. It’s going to be an epic night to remember!