Our Story
We recently had to fill out a questionnaire for our photographer to get to know us a little better. We were given the same questions, but answered them separately with no discussion or prior knowledge of the questions! Enjoy!
How did the two of you meet?
Erica says...
Ryan will try to tell you that we met on the Internet. That is what he always tells people, because he likes to annoy me with how creepy that sounds, but it’s kind of true! My cousin knew him a long time ago and she didn’t have Facebook, so she added him to mine, but I never even looked at his profile or anything. Then, fast forward 2 years later, and I was going to watch my dad’s basketball game and Ryan was leaving Renae’s game and we saw each other. (Bobby, my grandpa said, “That boy almost broke his neck looking at you.” HAHAHA!) We just barely said hi though and the next day I get a Facebook request to join a group for Ryan’s Journey of Hope trip. Normally I delete those requests in an instant, but I was like, “WHOA- this is the guy from last night!” So we started emailing some, but I took one look at his profile and saw he was born in 1986 and concluded that he was way too young for me, and I was dating some other people at the time, so I wasn’t interested… UNTIL my best friend saw that he wrote on my wall and goes, “Erica- how do you know Ryan Shippy? He’s really cute, plays music, and lots of girls had crushes on him in college.” (They went to college together.) With this information, I decided to reply back to a message he had written me a month prior with some more interest this time, and the rest is history!
Ryan says...
We met on the internet basically. Haha. But she will say we met at a basketball game her dad was coaching.
Where did the proposal take place?
Erica says...
There were a few attempted proposals, before the actual one lol, but THE ONE happened right in front of the best looking snowman ever with a sign that said, “Erica! Will you marry me?” Then he got down on one knee and said some of the most wonderful and sweet things ever and asked me to be his wife!!!!!! Aaaaaah, I still get all excited re-telling it!! It was PERFECT.
Ryan says...
Which one is how I will answer this! No we got engaged in front of a snowman. If you get the Odessa paper, you will be able to read a whole story on it apparently!
What are some things the two of you enjoy doing together?
Erica says...
We are both really involved with church stuff—Ryan leads worship for the college ministry, and I love mentoring girls, being a camp counselor, just loving kids to Jesus! We also like outdoors activities—camping, Royals games… I would just about rather do anything outside! We go out to dinner a lot together, and we also do a lot of stuff together with our families. He has a 7 year old sister, so we spend afternoons practicing soccer with her or reading her books before bed… lots of family time! And recently we’ve been going to movies more often, which I love! OH and Ryan took a Theatre class which allowed us the opportunity to go to a lot of live theatre, which actually ended up being pretty fun. We also love playing board games, but sometimes Ryan has to tell me to calm down, because I think everyone should know and play by all the rules.
Ryan says...
Eating, doing service oriented things, and writing
What is your favorite restaurant/bar/drink?
Erica says...
Mine is California Pizza Kitchen for a fancier place, but any sub place for a fast food place. I like to eat healthy and sometimes this can make things difficult lol… Ryan is super nice about accomodating to my healthy eating preferences! His favorite is FOR SURE Chipotle, but we also both love this little Chinese place in Warrensburg that used to scare me, but Ryan has convinced me to love it, too. Oh and we both like Buffalo Wild Wings a lot.
I actually have never drank alcoholic drinks! On New Year’s this year, we made limeade, because I like that lol. But I also like Diet Coke, and Ryan and I’s favorite drink to share is UNSWEETENED iced tea! We both were excited to find out that we both prefer that to the sweetened variety.
Ryan says...
Buffalo Wild Wings
Mine is a white Russian, and she doesn’t drink. She likes Diet Coke a lot though.
Favorite music?
Erica says...
I like the following stations: Mix 93 and anything country. Ryan thinks I have horrible taste in music, and probably because I do lol. I think his music is for weird, scary people actually. Oh and I also like really random things like the Juno soundtrack and all the Disney music and oldies and Johnny Cash. But most of all, my favorite would be anything Ryan is singing to me.
Ryan says...
I like Incubus, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, and anything else that is good. She likes everything that is bad, sadly.
List any other things that make you and your fiance different from others…this could be a silly idiosyncrasy that only you guys understand…share it.
Erica says...
One right off the top of my head is that I am way into detail and particular about things and Ryan is NOT like this, but somehow we really complement each other in this regard—he calms me down and I keep him more organized. And both of us have really big aspirations and dreams, and I think we both appreciate and encourage that in each other… when we both talk of being famous to each other, neither of us laughs at this, but thinks of ways to make it happen. I love that Ryan doesn’t just let me chase my dreams, but he is there every step inspiring me more and dreaming even bigger.
Oh and that we call each other Shippmates.
Ryan says...
Everyone is more excited when we get somewhere. That is mainly because of her, but it is definitely true.
