Band is what brought us together. Ben was a music major and Ashley just played for fun, but they wound up in the same horn section at Kent State University. Ashley was always rushing in from ballet class in her typical fashion, sweatpants and moccasins, yet Ben claims that she caught his eye that very first day. As the year went on, Ashley became an honorary member of the Horn studio and she and Ben became friends.

One random evening the following summer, Ashley received a late-night text from the piano player in her ballet classes at Kent. This piano player was also a music major at Kent and happened to be a mutual friend of Ben's. She put the wheels in motion that led to Ben asking Ashley on their first date once they returned to school for Fall semester. We went for ice cream (still one of our favorite things to do) at the local ice cream shop in downtown Kent, the Arctic Squirrel (RIP). After that, we went back to campus to watch Monsters University at the school theater. On the way to drop Ashley off at home that night, Ben TOTALLY ran a red light - he will deny it to this day - but we made it home safely, and the rest is history.

Nearly six years of dating later, Ben popped the question. It was summer, and Ashley's parents had just left on vacation (AKA one of their 'old-people tours'). Ben came to town to help house-sit, and he came with a ring in his bag. One night, they built a little fire in the backyard to have a cookout. Ben was recreating one of their first memories together at Ashley's first apartment, cooking hot dogs in the fireplace (lol, college is a crazy time). While Ben pretended to need to go wash his hands after building a fire, Ashley began chowing down on her freshly cooked hot dog. Sneaky Ben returned and dropped down on one knee to an extremely surprised Ashley. She said yes of course (after a few words of surprise that need not be repeated). Ben planned this well because after the proposal, they got to celebrate with s'mores.

Due to Covid turning our world upside down, Ben and Ashley will be eloping in Colorado on their original date of 10/18/2020. Don’t worry... we still want to party with you too! In order to throw the wedding we dreamed of, we had to put things on hold. Gear up for tacos and margs and a day of dancing in what we hope will be a post-quarantine, mask-free life in October of 2021.