Friends Forever, Sweethearts For Always
At Joslin’s, we have precious stones and incredible jewelry pieces, but our most priceless possessions are our customers! We love to get to know each of you and to hear your wonderfully unique stories. Joslin’s is thrilled to recognize some of the amazing people who make what we do so meaningful.
Meet Ryan + Sydney
If you happen to know Ryan and Sydney, you’re acquainted with one of the sweetest, funniest couples around. Currently Sydney teaches 4th grade, while Ryan is studying to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Ryan also works in the sports medicine center of Children’s Mercy. These two hearts of gold volunteer every Saturday morning at a pet shelter, and even adopted a cat during the “Covid Quarantine Days.” If you’ve got a sweet spot for love stories that stem from best friendship, you’re going to fall for these two!
From Friends to Something More
When Sydney was 15, her family owned a pizza restaurant across from Joslin’s. One day, her dad told her he had just hired a really cute boy – guess who? Yep, Ryan got a job as a server there, but had a girlfriend at the time, so Ryan and Sydney started out just friends. Eventually, Ryan and his girlfriend broke up, Ryan went on to get a different job, and then, Ryan invited Sydney out on their first official date! Sydney was still 15 or 16 — so young she had to be dropped off for the date! The two had a great time at Incredible Pizza and even shared their first kiss. Then, they didn’t talk again for almost four years! Turns out, Sydney thought the date went well, but Ryan didn’t! Oops!
During Sydney’s senior year in high school, she posted a “Like this post for a ‘to be honest’” on her Twitter account, and Ryan liked it! Sydney messaged him back with her honest opinion comment, and then Ryan asked if she still had the same phone number. “I kept tabs on her for that first few years after our first date, and I wanted to keep talking to her, so when I saw her post, I liked it to see what would happen – and she responded!” However, this time it was Sydney who was unavailable as she had a boyfriend. But as Sydney put it, “My boyfriend was a turd, so eventually we broke up.”
“I love that Ryan and I reconnected as friends because we are so similar! It’s like he’s the boy version of me,” Sydney commented. “Equally outgoing, equally driven, we both love school, we both have very fun personalities and just similar spirits. It was really a natural draw. I just appreciate that we were genuinely just a friendship at the beginning. Within the first couple of months of reconnecting, I wasn’t in the right headspace from just getting out of a relationship. Ryan was so patient with me. What I needed was someone to be there, to be a good friend. I love that we drifted into a relationship.”
“I mean, the first time we hung out we went right back to the friendship we’d had. We had a lot of fun, went to dinner…I threw highlighters at her to annoy her. We just always had a lot of fun,” Ryan added. The two took the next step in their relationship and started officially dating in 2017.
Growing Up Together
Sydney had already been planning to attend KU, but the fact that Ryan would be an RA in her college dorm sealed the deal. The two enjoyed going to college together; forget long distance, they could walk around campus together! Even though Ryan was a year ahead of Sydney in school, he chose to take another minor, and the two were able to graduate together in May of 2021.
“KU really messed up our graduation,” Ryan shared. “They had predicted heavy storms that day, but then, even when there were no storms within a 5-hour period, they still cancelled the whole ceremony and everything. It ended up kind of cool though because all of us seniors went and had our own graduation. We kind of scheduled our own thing on campus and invited our families. We got some cool pictures together, too!”
The couple moved into a new apartment in August and adopted a quarantine kitty named “Pepa.” “He’s our first baby,” Sydney laughed. “He was a really fun addition to our family. Everyone was so unsure about everything, and he is just a really cool ray of sunshine in our lives.”
When Did You Know You’d Found “The One?”
Sydney: “One day we drove down to Zona Rosa, and on the way back we were singing some song. I really like music and we bond over that – we sing hardcore. So, Ryan had an invisible microphone and I thought ‘OMG this is so fun!’ It was one of those times everything just slowed down; I felt like I could see this going on for awhile. It just felt right.”
Ryan: “When we started dating, I knew we’d be together for a least a year just because of how we were together. Maybe I kind of always knew she was the one because of that. As we kept dating and hanging out, it just became more solidified – the car rides singing, going to a sunflower farm….it didn’t really matter what I was doing, she always supported me regardless. Actually, one year on July 7th, Sydney told me she loved me at 3 am the day my family left for vacation! I really wasn’t there yet, and I just knew she was going to say it. I knew how important that word was to her, so I explained that I cared for her a lot but didn’t want to rush it.”
Sydney added: “In hindsight that was the answer I needed. It was really mature of him – I was young! I can appreciate his response now but at the time, I was like ‘What the heck!’”
Ryan continued: “During my family’s vacation then, I had a talk with my dad. I told him ‘I don’t know how, Dad, but this girl got to me. She got to my heart, and I would do anything for this girl!’ My mom said that was the last time we’d take a vacation without Sydney because I talked about her the whole time.”
A Sentimental Surprise – The Ring!
“Oh, that’s a fun story,” Sydney remarked. “We were in Branson two years into our relationship, and Ryan said ‘Do you want to go in this Kay store?’ so I said ‘OMG yes’ but I was nervous! I had never been in a ring store before. I looked sick or something because my hands were so shaky! After that trip, we went to ring stores just for fun. Every time we went to Scheel’s – for years – Ryan would have me size my finger.”
“A year before our actual engagement, her dad called me out for lunch to talk about something,” Ryan added. “I thought he was mad because that’s the only time he’d asked me out for lunch like that. He told me he had this diamond for Sydney that was her mom’s. He didn’t want to force anything, but he offered to me. Since we both love sentimental things, it was perfect.”
“And I was out with my mom, who casually commented that we should drop by Joslin’s,” Sydney inserted. “It turns out that was planned! I found the perfect ring setting, but it was meant for a circle diamond. My engagement ring has a marquis diamond from one of my mom’s pendant necklaces, which she also got at Joslin’s. I was nervous because the marquis cut is kind of a weird shape for me but because it was so sentimental, I wanted it to work. That’s when I fell in love with Joslin’s! They told me they could alter the ring setting to fit the diamond. Ryan and I had been planning to visit Joslin’s the next day so I literally told the salesgirl, ‘I’m coming in tomorrow with my boyfriend and I’m going to pretend I haven’t seen this ring!’ I wasn’t going to tell him I’d found my ring but the next day when Ryan and I visited, within two minutes I told him ‘I have to tell you this story!’”
Ryan continued: “It was a long con – taking her to stores so I could size her finger and find the ring. When we visited Joslin’s, there was simply a look on her face I’d never seen before. I called the store after and told them I was going to come get the ring.”
A Dream Made Reality – The Proposal!
“This is my pride and joy,” Ryan laughed. “She did not know she was getting engaged. I coordinated a friend to be a photographer, a videographer and also both sides of our family were there. Earlier on, I asked her dad if I could go talk with him and her mom; I told them ‘I really love your daughter and I want to marry her.’ Her parents got super excited right away.
“We went to Potter’s Lake in Lawrence. I got flowers and attached pictures of us on all the stems. Her friend drove her there for a supposed girls’ day, so she suspected nothing.
I had the song “Big, Big Plans” playing when she walked down, and I had people strategically placed – so as Sydney walked through she got the flowers with pictures from both sides of her family. Her dad isn’t really emotional but that was the first time I saw him teary-eyed.”
“It was really crazy,” Sydney commented. “It had always been a goal for me – I wanted my family and my fiancé’s family to get along. Over the years we’ve made it a priority to spend holidays together so that when we have kids someday it’s just one big family…I had envisioned getting engaged a gazillion times and I could never have imagined. Just so much thought went into it. To have all my family there? So special. And my dad called Ryan the day after our engagement to tell him how proud he was of the engagement plan and that he was excited to have Ryan as a son-in-law.” So, after dating for four years, Ryan and Sydney were engaged on December 22, 2020.
Wedding Excitement!
Within weeks of engagement, Sydney was nervous to get everything set up because of many rescheduling wedding venues. She and Ryan got to work and picked out their venue almost immediately. The two plan to be married June 2022 at the Brownstone in Topeka. Sydney, clearly a great planner, found her wedding dress in January (just a few weeks after engagement). The couple has been kept busy with recent life changes – moving, Sydney’s new job, etc. so they wanted to get everything mostly settled ahead of time.
The Joslin’s Experience
“We heard the commercials on the radio so much because my dad listens to talk radio,” Sydney remarked. “We used to laugh when it came on so often and my dad would be like “Oh, but they actually are a really good company.” And it’s so true! I had a promise ring from a big box company and the customer service at Joslin’s is just so different.
When we resized my promise ring, the big box company took months, but Joslin’s resized my engagement ring twice in 20 minutes. It’s so nice knowing we have a ridiculously lovely company who knows us and will clean the ring; Joslin’s takes such good care of us. And they’re so welcoming!”
“We felt so comfortable with everyone from Joslin’s,” Ryan agreed. “You just don’t find that a lot where everybody is so sweet and genuine. They wanted to know about us, how we got together, everything. Recently, Sydney dropped by Joslin’s with a friend and the Joslin’s representative said ‘I’ve never seen you without your fiancée!’ It’s great to have such a trustworthy, friendly place who knows us and treats us well.”
“I tell everyone!” Sydney exclaimed. “OMG, you need to go to Joslin’s because we’ve had such an amazing experience with them.”
Congratulations to Ryan and Sydney!
If you’re looking for the perfect lifelong gift for that special someone, visit Joslin’s today! We’re happy to help find a beautiful ring for the love of a lifetime. Have a special story to share? We’d love to hear it! Please reach out online or through our social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram!
