Clear Cut Couples: Annie and Ryan

Annie and Ryan met while in school at the University of South Carolina. For Ryan, it was love at first sight at his fraternity's tailgate. For Annie, it took a little while to come around, but thankfully he was persistent and knew she was the one!

Ryan said, “You could call watching Annie swing a bat at a llama shaped piñata our first date because that’s when I knew” but their first real date was going into NYC for the night. They went to the bar at the Baccarat Hotel where they dreamt of a life in NYC together, snuck into the 230 Fifth rooftop bar, and finished the night grabbing sandwiches from a famous Princeton shop called Hoagie Haven!

They have been together for a little over seven years now! They have been so fortunate to have been able to share some unbelievable adventures together: traveling abroad throughout Europe while Annie studied in Italy, starting their life together in NYC, adopting their two insane maltipoos (Louie and May-May), and of course getting engaged!

The plan for the proposal was a total surprise. While Annie constantly did her best to try to figure out when, where and how it was going to happen, Ryan somehow pulled off the surprise.

With the help of another couple they are best friends with (Zach and Cath), they were able to convince Annie that she was going to a brand event being held at an undisclosed location as celebrities were being invited. Deep down, Ryan thought Annie might know something was up, but she openly stated that if she wasn’t getting engaged then at least she would get some free merch and meet celebrities (so Ryan basically created his own competition for the day).

On the day of the engagement, Ryan dropped Annie off at their apartment early so they could get their ride to the event. As soon as she was out the door, he sprinted down to his car and quickly changed outfits, hopped on citi bikes with Zach and zoomed up into midtown to beat them to the hotel.

Annie and Cath were taken to David Yurman as a first stop, before then being brought to the Baccarat Hotel. Annie was met at the entrance to the restaurant, led back to the bar where Ryan was standing there waiting. He proposed, they had a glass of champagne in the same bar seats that they spent those moments together 7 years prior. It was a magical experience and he truly can’t believe that he pulled it off.

Annie was so surprised and they were happy, crying, laughing, all of the emotions. Ryan found out the associate at David Yurman spoiled the surprise by accident by saying “oh you’re here for the engagement, right?” (couldn’t believe it), but Cath quickly said it was a whole scavenger hunt to throw Annie off. She thought the Baccarat was just stop #2 and absolutely did not expect to see him there! It was the first time she had seen the ring fully completed and she was in awe. It was so worth it to design the components together, but kept her from seeing it assembled to maintain the surprise!

They are currently working with a wedding planner to plan a 2025 wedding in Mallorca, Spain! Congrats you two! We are SO happy for you!