Amanda was born and raised in Saranac, MI, a small town about 40 minutes east of Grand Rapids. After graduating from high school in 2003, she went off to Grand Valley State University, where she majored in Social Studies and minored in Elementary Education. She graduated with her Bachelor's degree in 2008. Since graduating, Amanda has worked as a substitute teacher and a nanny. Currently, she is working full-time as a nanny between two families. She also began working on her Master's degree (at GVSU) in 2010. She is currently half way through her program. Amanda likes to spend time with Bryan, Dozer, and her friends and family. Boating, softball, organizing, and making lists are also some of her favorite things. :)

Bryan grew up in West Bloomfield, MI, a suburb of Detroit. Bryan graduated from high school in 2003 and began attending Western Michigan University that fall. Bryan chose to major in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Math. During his last year of school, he got an internship at Intertek. He graduated from WMU in 2008, and is still working for Intertek. Bryan is also currently pursuing his Master's degree (from WMU) in Engineering Management. In his spare time he enjoys boating, 'making' music, hanging out with friends, tubing down the river, and of course spending time with Amanda and Dozer.

Bryan and Amanda met on Match.com. After sending multiple emails and realizing that they had a lot in common, they finally talked on the phone, and decided to meet up for dinner in Grand Rapids. On December 17th, 2008, Bryan and Amanda met for the first time at the B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids. They talked the entire time, enjoyed a great dinner, and decided to continue the date. Bryan suggested going ice skating at the outdoor rink at Rosa Parks Circle. Neither Bryan or Amanda wanted the date to end, so after they finished ice skating, they grabbed some hot chocolate and continued to get to know each other.
It was getting late and Bryan had to work the next day, so they said their "goodbyes" and made plans to meet up two days later, on Saturday December 19th. After their all-day-long date (that consisted of lunch, a movie, and a show at the comedy club at the B.O.B.), Bryan and Amanda knew that they wanted to continue spending as much time together as they could. Bryan officially asked Amanda to be his girlfriend on January 4th, 2009, and they have been inseparable ever since.

Bryan's original plan to propose to Amanda consisted of a huge home-made sign and an airplane ride over their home on Murray Lake. Unfortunately, on Saturday August 6th, 2011, the pilot had to cancel the scheduled airplane ride due to problems with his plane. Bryan decided that he couldn't wait any longer and he came up with an alternate plan. Bryan secretly contacted Amanda's family and friends to fill them in on the day's events. It was a rainy morning, but Bryan suggested that they go downtown for lunch. They decided to head downtown to Bobarino's, the same restaurant that they had dinner at on their first date.

After lunch, Bryan suggested that they walk around Grand Rapids, since the rain had finally stopped, and it was turning into a beautiful summer day. They walked to Calder Plaza and decided to play on the giant tire swing that sits next to City Hall. As Bryan pushed Amanda on the tire swing, he was slyly looking for Amanda's sister, Kelli. Months earlier, Amanda had mentioned that she would love to have someone photograph the proposal, whenever it finally happened. Bryan had kept this in the back of his mind, and he arranged to have Kelli photograph the entire proposal. Once Bryan saw a camera lens pop out from behind a tree near the tire swing, he knew that the time was right. He climbed up onto the tire swing with Amanda, got down on one knee, told her how much he loves her, and asked Amanda to marry him. Bryan stood up, presented the ring to her, they hugged and kissed, and Amanda said, "YES!"

At this point, Kelli came out from her hiding spot and continued snapping pictures. Amanda was oblivious to her, and Bryan said, "Don't worry; I had the whole proposal photographed like you wanted." Amanda turned around to see her sister and was shocked! After taking some more pictures, Amanda and Bryan made some phone calls to share their exciting news and they continued the celebration into the evening surrounded by family and friends.