Couple finds love at Ace Hardware

It was a fateful day in May 2006 for University of Iowa graduate student Ian Besse. He was in the checkout lane of his local Lenoch & Cilek Ace Hardware when fellow graduate student Jana Peterson, also in the checkout line, said hello to Ian. Coincidentally, the two had connected online through a popular dating site a few weeks prior and Jana recognized Ian from his profile photo.

After a brief conversation in the Ace Hardware checkout aisle, they both reached their cars at the same time – and as fate would have it, were parked directly next to one another. It only took a few days for the two to meet again for their first real date and the rest is history. Ian and Jana's local Ace Hardware store even played a prominent role in his marriage proposal a few years later; he planned an elaborate scavenger hunt where one of the clues was hidden in the store. Ian and Jana tied the knot in 2009 and today have two beautiful children together.

In addition to celebrating their love on Valentine's Day, the two celebrate "Ace Hardware Day," every May 17.