About the Bride
Southern California native, Jennifer Lynn Roth is a beautiful, bubbly, bride. She works as the manager of the Software Support and Billing Service departments of Avanta and recently completed her Master of Public Health at UCLA. She loves science, puppies, pigs, Asian cuisine, Ryan, friends, and Thanksgiving. Probably in that order.
About the Groom
Ryan Scott Duryea is a self-described introvert, though most of his friends would tell you otherwise. He works as a computer programmer for Avanta. He loves computers, pizza, Jen, family, and friends. Most likely not in that order.
How We Met
Jen and Ryan met while working at Avanta. Jen was out in the field when Ryan was hired in July 2004. When Jen came back to work in the office, she found her desk had been hijacked by the this new employee, Ryan. Their eyes met and they both knew (or hoped at least) that it was fate! Ryan couldn't believe he would be working with such a hottie and Jen couldn't believe this boyishly cute and charming programmer had stolen her seat. It's a good thing they were attracted to each other from the start or else a fight for desk space would have started.
For the next four months, Jen and Ryan did practically everything together including going to the gym, shopping at IKEA, and partying in Hollywood. Jen and Ryan both insisted the relationship was strictly platonic and that the LA-native, Jen, was simply showing the new-guy-in-town, Ryan, what LA has to offer. Of course, everyone but Jen and Ryan began to see that these two would eventually get together. Finally in early December of 2004 Jen and Ryan admitted to each other that they were smitten and started dating.
Once they started dating in they were inseparable! They went on many adventures together including themed pub crawls, concerts, museums and bars/clubs, as well as sky diving! Their friends rarely saw them apart. Meanwhile no one at Avanta knew Jen and Ryan were dating. As they had planned, Jen got to tell all the stories about their adventures while Ryan remained quiet (as is natural for a programmer). Were you to ask an Avanta employee, they would have told you that Jen was out doing all this fun stuff while Ryan was just staying at home, alone, on the weekends. Some had suspected they started dating, but had ended the relationship shortly thereafter. Jen and Ryan kept their relationship a secret for nearly two years until October 2006 when they moved in together. A few weeks later they realized they had to update their W2 forms with their new, shared, address. The jig was up and they told their coworkers about their relationship. Long story short, the employees were shocked but very happy for the sneaky couple.