It was perhaps not the most promising prelude to a first date: A message from him informing her of his plans to move hours away within a few weeks.

Still, she agreed to go ahead and meet as planned, figuring a long-distance relationship – if it came to that – didn't have to be a deal-breaker. The right match outweighs the wrong circumstances, after all – and as it turned out, Lalania Jones and Chad Ropar found the best match in each other.

This compatibility was clear early-on, with hints of it coming through in the easy flow of conversation on their leap-of-faith first date. Little did they know, though, that the connection they ventured to begin then would lead to a wedding five years later, on the same date and at the same lake where their story began.

Of course, Topeka’s Lake Shawnee wasn’t their original plan for either their first date or their wedding date. Their original first-date plans had been to meet for miniature golf, after having connected on a dating website a few days earlier. But on that day they were supposed to meet – June 18, 2012 – Chad decided to move back to his hometown of Wichita.

He also pushed their plans to later in the day, leading Lalania to think he probably wasn’t placing too high a priority on seeing whether there could be something between them. (Plus, he’d been humorously pragmatic on his dating profile, stating: “You are probably not what I am looking for, haha.”)

But she decided to remain open to the possibility anyway, nonchalantly mentioning she’d be riding her bike at the lake later, if he wanted to stop by.

“I didn’t have much confidence that he would show up, but I gave him a chance, patiently waiting,” she says.

As it turned out, “patiently waiting” would become a theme in her life when it came to him – but always one that paid off. He did in fact show up that day, along with his Great Dane, Dolce, who took an instant liking to her.

And even more importantly, Chad and Lalania took an instant liking to each other. She especially noticed his striking blue eyes and charismatic disposition. And when he took an important phone call from his brother to discuss moving plans, she found she felt a pang of disappointment at the reminder he’d soon be leaving town.

Despite his impending departure, they made plans for a second date – which he also postponed from an early dinner to a late one. But Lalania didn’t mind, nor did she care that the date was short and at a sandwich shop. Instead, what stood out was his sweetness to her and everyone else they encountered that evening.

As it turned out, she wasn’t the only one who was well on her way to being smitten. Chad was falling fast, too – so much so that even that early on, he began telling friends and family she was the woman who’d become his wife.

LaLANIA + CHAD

- a happily-ever-after worth the wait -

By Erin Wisdom-Watson

“I told everyone I had my date set;
I was just waiting on him.”

Thus, it wasn’t all that surprising his return to Wichita was short-lived. Lalania supported him in it, even helping him pack up his apartment and move (a couple days later than planned, due to him attempting to drive his Hummer through a pond on her mom’s property and needing to let it dry out and become operational again).

But once in Wichita, his resolve to stick around lasted only a couple weeks.

“I kind of threw a wrench in those plans,” Lalania says, and Chad agrees – noting that “I knew to get to know her and date her from a distance would be tough.”

They closed that distance in a big way, with him not only moving back to Topeka but also moving in with her at her mom’s house, which she was taking care of while her mom lived out-of-state.

Making the commitment to live together was an especially big deal given that Lalania’s life also included her then 12-year-old daughter, Aaliyah. And on top of that, they were soon working together, as well – maintaining rental properties belonging to Lalania’s mom and even venturing into the world of storage-unit auctions after being inspired by an episode of “Storage Wars.”

If anything could test a young relationship, certainly being together 24 hours a day and forming a business partnership would do the trick. But for Lalania and Chad, these factors only served to solidify the connection they’d had from the start. Their circumstances also made six months together feel like five years, given how fast their relationship matured.

But as fast as they moved in some ways, in other ways they took their time. Especially for Chad, marriage wasn’t a step he wanted to take until he’d reached certain educational and professional goals.

He and Lalania stepped away from their storage-unit venture after about a year, when he accepted another job offer. He was also in school full-time, and as time went on, Lalania set her sights on his graduation and the proposal she was pretty sure might come with it — since his graduation on June 20, 2015 was the same weekend as their three-year anniversary.

Plus, she already had their fourth anniversary in mind as an ideal wedding date, as it would fall on a Saturday. 

“I told everyone I had my date set; I was just waiting on him,” she says.

But as was befitting the theme they’d established early in their relationship, Chad kept her waiting.

“I was just waiting until I felt like I had the correct status,” he says. “I was waiting for that perfect time.”

He adds, though, that he eventually realized what they had was working well, regardless of whether he’d met his other goals. With him having acted as a co-parent to Aaliyah for almost five years, they truly felt like a family — and finally, Chad could see that nothing needed to change before they made that status official.

Thus, he took two important steps toward a proposal: purchasing a ring (after several headache-inducing shopping trips) and asking Aaliyah’s permission to marry her mother.

Aaliyah agreed without reservation and was excited about Chad’s proposal plan, which initially involved inundating Lalania with flower deliveries while she was at work on Valentine’s Day, then popping the question that evening.

“I figured the flowers would butter her up and get her ready for it,” he notes.

But as it turned out, his plans changed slightly, and the proposal came at a time Lalania was even less likely to expect it. With his mom visiting on February 11, 2017, Chad knew it would be the perfect time to pop the question while all the important ladies in his life – also including Aaliayh and Dolce – were present.

They went to the lake that day, and Lalania didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary as they gave his mom a tour highlighting significant spots from their first date. She also didn’t notice when Chad motioned for the others to stay behind as the two of them walked toward the water’s edge, where he got down on one knee and – beginning to shake and tear up – asked her to marry him.

Lalania didn’t hesitate to accept – or to move forward with wedding plans for their fifth anniversary: June 18, 2017. Although they’d initially planned on a destination wedding in Florida, they ended up deciding on Lake Shawnee as the right place to officially unite their lives.

And given their connection and perfect way of complementing one another, they know their future will be bright together. They would love for it to include more children (and possibly more Great Danes). They foresee traveling together and eventually settling in Florida. And maybe most importantly, they know they’ll continue to encourage each other toward achieving goals and being the best they can be.

“He’s kind of helped bring me out of my shell and my little world,” Lalania says, while Chad notes that she’s also helped him in a number of ways, especially when it comes to being more open-minded and patient with people.

And of course, he’s thankful patience is one of her strong qualities.

“She waited for our first date, for our second date and for a proposal,” he says. “She just kept on waiting for me, and I’m glad she did.”

“I told everyone I had my date set; I was just waiting on him.”