Let's take it back to the year 2008: our sophomore year of high school. We had the same 3rd period class; Spanish with Mr. Hipsley. One day Mr. Hipsley asked the class to get into small groups of 4. Ashley needed one more person for her group and asked Joel if he wanted to join her group. He replied, "Yeah, I'm down." They exchanged numbers and texted here and there for months but nothing really came from it. One day, Ashley was watching Dancing with the Stars with her mom, when she came across Joel's Myspace page and realized she kinda likes him. She was too shy to actually tell him that she likes him so she had her younger sister, Stephanie, text him off of Ashley's phone to tell him that she liked him. That was on March 10, 2009. This began the talking stage for Ashley and Joel. They began to text non-stop and talk on the phone every night (after 7pm because it's free). Joel would walk Ashley to all her classes. Fast forward a couple months to May 7, 2009: Ashley asked her mom to stay home from school because she was "sick", and after everybody else left the house.. Joel came over (Sorry Mom). Ashley made Joel pancakes and they just sat around, watched movies and talked for a few hours till he had to leave. But before he left, Joel had prewritten some poems for Ashley and left them for her to find. Ashley found them almost immediately after Joel left and called her mom, sisters and all her friends to tell them that Joel had asked her out. Of course Ashley's mom responded saying "Tell him you will think about it." A few hours later, Joel called Ashley and said, "Hey, I left something in the bathroom trash." Of course Ashley played it off like she never found it earlier and read the poems again and told him, "Yes." Ashley said Yes to being Joel's girlfriend.

Joel had found super cheap tickets to fly to Spain, once he showed Ashley, she immediately yelled "BUY IT! BUY IT NOW!" Joel was hesitant on purchasing the tickets because they were already booked to go to Spain later that month. "We can't do two Spain trips in one month", Joel said. Ashley responded, "These tickets are cheap. We can't pass up this deal. Besides, we don't have to do Spain.. we can do Italy instead and I'll plan everything." Joel agreed but on one condition: Per our tradition, we have to do a professional photoshoot (little did she know this photoshoot wouldn't be like all the others) So Ashley planned the entire trip: they would spend a few nights in Rome, take the train to see the Leaning tower of Pisa, see the statue of David in Florence, tour the Duomo in Milan and take a gondola ride in Venice. So when we finally arrived in Venice, we had to move quickly because our photoshoot began in less than 2 hours! So we located our Airbnb and dropped off our bags but it was at this moment Joel knew he had messed up- he had no clue where he was going to hide the ring box! He had to think fast and on his feet.. so he shoved the entire ring box in HIS SOCK! and headed to their photoshoot. This photoshoot was just like all the others in Ashley's eyes. But what she didn't know was that Joel had secretly spoken with him the day before and they came up with a signal. So they all hopped on the gondola ride and a few minutes in, Joel heard the signal. Joel began talking about how much he loved Ashley and that he was ready. But Ashley decided to cut him off and start speaking. He then placed his finger over her mouth and said "Shh.. stop talking." He resumed his speech and adjusted his sock while slowly removing the ring box, he got down on one knee and opened up the box, displaying a very beautiful ring! Then those infamous words came out of Joel's mouth "Ashley, will you marry me?" Ashley couldn't believe it, she couldn't stop crying! Of course Ashley said YES!