Soon, Hannah Ruth became an adult and aged out of her parent's insurance. Steph, tempted by the promise of finally being in-network, left the nest early to stop being covered by her own parent's insurance and get onto Hannah Ruth's plan. But to do so, the two had to enter into a Domestic Partnership. The two were partnered domestically after going to four different UPS stores to find a notary on December 17, 2021.

After two-and-a-half years of dating and building the foundations of life together, Steph popped the question to Hannah Ruth at the Mill Mountain Star, overlooking the Roanoke Valley on April 3, 2021.

Not long after, Steph realized it wasn't fair that Hannah Ruth got a shiny pretty ring, and began to pester Hannah Ruth for one of her own.

Hannah Ruth asked Steph to marry her (twice!) later that summer.

Unfortunately, after the landmark fall of Roe v. Wade, it became clear there was a potential threat to marriage equality. Roe fell on a Friday and the two were civilly married in front of the National Gallery of Art that Monday morning. The two self-officiated the ceremony on June 27, 2022.

After a domestic partnership, engagement, and civil marriage, only one frontier was left to conquer.

Registry