Clear Cut Couples: Hannah and Justin

Justin and Hannah went to high school and college together, but they didn’t start dating until after college graduation. They started casually dating in December of 2016, but Hannah had plans to move to San Francisco in January of 2017 for a gap year before going to law school. They originally planned to make long distance work, but Justin ended up in the Bay Area for work in March of 2017. They spent their weekends traveling throughout California and the surrounding states!


They have been friends for years before they started dating! Shortly after they started dating, they went to Chicago for New Year’s Eve, so they call that their first trip! Although they started dating at the end of 2016, they went separate ways for a while when Hannah was in law school and found their way back to each other in 2019 and have been together since! They just celebrated their 5 year anniversary in March.


A major highlight of their relationship has been taking care of and traveling with their fur babies - Silver, their two year old German Shepherd, and Ares, their one year old Belgian Malinois. Both pups have taken multiple cross-country road trips with them as they moved back and forth between Michigan and Arizona for work.


Justin proposed in their hometown on the night before they left for a week-long vacation in Florida. He got down on one knee and showed her the ring, but he didn’t say anything, so she prompted him with, “Are you going to ask me?”. He asked her to marry him and put the ring on her finger before she could answer! They got home that night and he called her outside to see the Northern Lights; she’d never seen them before and it was very rare for them to be visible from where they live - they like to think that was a “congratulations” from the universe! They designed the ring back in November/December. They picked the diamond out together and narrowed down the settings down to a few choices. Justin made the final decision to preserve some element of surprise. The ring absolutely took her breath away, she hasn't stopped staring at it since.


As for whether Hannah was surprised by the proposal, let’s just say that she is very difficult to surprise. She had a feeling it was coming, but what he did surprise her with is that he flew her dad out from Arizona the previous week to ask him for permission in-person. She had no idea!


As for their wedding, they don’t have anything planned yet, but they are leaning toward a very small and intimate ceremony or an elopement. They want very little stress and to share their day with the people they are closest with. Congrats you two! We are SO happy for you!