My friend, Mark, asked me to be a swordsman in his wedding. As the last man in the sword detail, it was my job to properly welcome his new bride, Courtney, to the Marine Corps, per tradition. Ashlyn was enthralled by my technique and we were promptly introduced. After that, I was about as smooth as sandpaper, but it got her attention and I haven’t lost it since. Ash also not only caught the bouquet, she dove for it.

I first heard about who Marshall was a couple weeks prior to the wedding. My friend Courtney was getting married and we were on our way to Nashville for the bachelorette party when Court mentioned that Marshall and I needed to meet because we would “be perfect for each other”. Wedding day rolls around and Marshall was the talk of the town amongst some other girls in the bridal party. They were trying to match make for one of their other friends but I wasn’t going down without a fight. It was time for the bouquet toss and I knew this was my chance to really impress him with my athleticism and dedication. Thanks to my many years playing volleyball, I dove for the bouquet and came out on top. Needless to say, he swooned over me and still does to this day.

After making an impression on one another at one wedding, I was going to be back in Indiana to be in another wedding the following weekend, so I asked Ash if she wanted to come. She offered to pick me up from the airport and take me to the grooms house where I and the rest of the groomsmen were staying. While driving back, we were hit by a drunk driver. We got a few more hours together than we bargained for that night. I got to meet her mom, Nana, and Papaw on night one when they picked us up on the side of the road in the rain. The wedding the next day went off without a hitch, though.

Marshall and I traveled up north to visit family in Ludington, MI in July 2022. This was the first time that our parents were meeting each other but I did not think anything of it. We finally arrive and go to Stix for dinner. Stix had been recently renovated so Marshall was dying to check it out. After dinner, we were enjoying some drinks outside and Marshall started to become very adamant that we go back to the cottage and watch the sunset on the beach. No one else was in a rush except for him, and now we know why! We get to the beach and you could tell that Marshall just could not wait any longer, so he gets down on one knee and pops the question with the beautiful sunset in the background. It will forever be a memory that all of us cherish because it was so special.