Bethany Ryan and Andrew Jones attended the same preschool and later the same parties as teenagers, but it would take nearly 30 years for them to officially meet.
Bethany Ann Ryan and Andrew Robin Jones spent almost three decades living parallel lives without ever meeting.
They were born in the same hospital — one year apart. They grew up in the same suburb of Sydney, Australia, attended the same preschool and neighboring high schools. As teenagers they even attended the same parties.
But it took until November 2018, a week before Ms. Ryan — then in her late twenties — was set to move out of the suburb she grew up in and into the bustle of downtown Sydney, about 20 miles away, that they finally came into each other’s lives. At least digitally.
With moving boxes piled up, Ms. Ryan sank down onto her bed to catch a break from packing and idly opened up the dating app Bumble. “Should I even be swiping?” Ms. Ryan remembered thinking, realizing that her dating radius on the app was about to change.
That afternoon of swiping led Ms. Ryan to Mr. Jones. The two traded messages through the Christmas and New Year holidays, until they agreed to meet up in downtown Sydney, near Ms. Ryan’s new place.
Over dumplings, they bonded over their shared love of food, favorite neighborhoods in Sydney and the Australian bush — a colloquial term used by Australians to describe the wooded areas outside of the coast. They left the date unaware that they shared a hometown as well.
Three months into dating, Ms. Ryan showed Mr. Jones photos from her childhood. Peering at a photo of a young Ms. Ryan in front of her preschool classroom, Mr. Jones immediately recognized the school. He asked if that was Binnowee Kindergarten. “I was shocked,” she said. “How did he know?”
He knew, of course, because he had also attended the same preschool. He was a student in 1994 and 1995; she in 1993 and 1994. “It was crazy,” Mr. Jones said. From the time that picture was taken, “we wouldn’t meet each other for almost 30 years.”
Ms. Ryan, 33, grew up in West Pennant Hills, a suburb of Sydney. She is a group account director at Dentsu Creative, an advertising agency. Mr. Jones, 32, also grew up in West Pennant Hills and is an electrician. He started his own company, Tier 1 Electrical && Data, in 2019. They now live together in Sydney.
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In April 2019, the pair made their relationship official. That month, they joined friends for an outdoor party to celebrate Anzac Day, the Australian national holiday commemorating Australians and New Zealanders who have served in the military. Mr. Jones assumed his natural position: grilling wings by the fire pit.
“I looked over and I could see he was talking to people, he was laughing, he was in this light,” Ms. Ryan said, “and I just thought: That’s my person.”
The next year, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two moved in together.
“I’ve always been good with my hands,” Mr. Jones said. So, he crafted an engagement ring for Ms. Ryan and invited her on a camping trip. Over tea in the Australian bush, he proposed.
“April is our month,” Ms. Ryan said. It’s when the two made their relationship official, when they were engaged and when they married.
As lovers of the outdoors, the duo wanted a wedding venue in a remote setting. “Pomp and circumstance can distract from what a marriage and a wedding really is, which is just two people,” Ms. Ryan said.
On April 22, the couple was married at the Australian Bushland Weddings venue just outside of Sydney. Broderick Collins, a minister for the Community of Christ, officiated in front of 110 guests.
Ms. Ryan wore a red gown. “I’ve never liked white,” she said.
After the wedding ceremony, the guests gathered under a large marquee tent for a celebration, which quickly turned into a dance party. “Three people broke the seams of their pants because there was so much dancing,” Mr. Jones said.
“We were proud of the stat,” Ms. Ryan continued.
The music shut off at midnight but many of the guests stayed out, gathering around a campfire.
“We didn’t go to bed till 5 a.m.,” Ms. Ryan said. “We were the last to bed.”