Ashley was starting her Junior year at MSU, just moved into an off-campus apartment with her three roommates and was enjoying the first few weeks back with her friends. It was her first year not living in the dorms, and having two years as a Spartan under her belt, East Lansing was home away from home. Ryan had just transferred to MSU for his Junior year, having started college at home in St. Clair. He moved into an apartment with his brother, Roy, and was brand new to East Lansing. He was excited to be a Spartan and ready to meet people and make friends! They both downloaded Tinder to see what it was all about (it was new-ish back then, ok!!). As it goes, they both swiped right on each other and matched! Some context: Ashley's profile literally only said "Age: 20, Major: Engineering, Mexican food and Slurpees are all I need." and Ryan's said "Age: 20, Major: Pre-Nursing, I'm 6'1" and I can cook" which we refer to now as our "terms and conditions upon signing up." After messaging back and forth, Ryan asked Ashley to go on a date. He had mentioned he never had Chipotle before, so that's where Ashley suggested they go! Ryan's next message was the most iconic of all: "Do you want me to pick you up in the Honda Civic or Honda Ruckus?" (a Ruckus is a moped). Ashley said "the Ruckus" and the rest is history!

Ryan's main goal for when he asked the big question was for Ashley to be surprised. Safe to say he achieved and exceeded that goal! He created a fake trip to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes to throw Ashley off her game. So, thinking they were essentially going camping, Ashley packed her bags and insisted they stop at the store to get waters, snacks, and ice for the cooler...as you do when you go to the dunes! Ryan tried to dissuade her but ultimately they went to the store and got only a few things. Ryan said they'd get the rest up there, which was odd, but Ashley didn't suspect anything. On the drive, he even had his friend call and talk about the dunes, when they were arriving and the plans for the days up there. Ryan then suggested they stop at MSU to get dinner and buy his dad a birthday gift (this is something they have done before, many times, on the drive over to the west side). They walked around the bookstore in the International Center and Ryan bought his dad a hat. When they were done, he asked if she wanted to take a walk to the Beaumont Tower because his "friends from PA school wanted to see it" which was the first point where Ashley was like "What?" thinking "Why can't they just google it?" but nonetheless it was a beautiful day and a 5 minute walk to stretch their legs before making the second half of the trip, so she went with it. On the walk over there, Ashley had a tiny inkling in the back of her mind that "lots of people get engaged here..." and glanced at Ryan's pockets for a box shape, but nothing was there and she knew it was highly unlikely, so disregarded and kept walking. Once at the tower, Ryan told her to take a picture of it...which Ashley was about to argue "Why?" to find him behind her on one knee. Then the shutter sound from the photographer's camera, waiting patiently on a bench. Ashley asked "What are you doing!?!" to which Ryan said "Proposing!!!" and then they both blacked out. No memories of what he said. No clue what she said other than "Yes!" He then said "I have outfit options for you in the car, we have the photographer for an hour!" and then followed with "We're not going to the dunes, nobody is, it was all made up!" After taking the photos and excitedly calling everybody, they picked up Chipotle for dinner and drove home to Ashley's family waiting with champagne and desserts!