We're Getting Married!

We met on the first day of the spring semester in the most romantic of all the classes - Urban Economics! We were both studying for our Masters of Urban Planning degrees at the State University of New York at Buffalo when Dave sat down next to Ashlee on that first day of Urban Economics. We ended up in a group of three together and spent the rest of the semester meeting weekly to do group homework and a group project/presentation. We didn't see each other over the summer, but did meet up again when our mutual group of friends all went to Wing Fest in downtown Buffalo. We started getting together as friends after that and from there we started dating. Now here we are almost eight years later and tying the knot! Oh how time flies!

Unbeknownst to Ashlee, Dave had purchased a ring and had hidden it in his tool chest in the basement. Dave was planning to propose to Ashlee on one of the first great hikes they went on when they moved to the Hudson Valley. He had it all planned out, but fate had other ideas, and in April 2018 Dave and Ashlee were on their way to a wedding when they received the news that their house was on fire! Poor Dave had planned to propose that month, but now they had to find a new place to live. Once they had a place to live again, Dave was left to plan a new proposal. Meanwhile, family and friends had known previously that Dave was planning to propose and they were left wondering when he would pop the question. Everyone kept the secret and Ashlee had no idea there was so much proposal speculation going on. On June 2, Dave, Ashlee and their good friends, Maya and Mike, decided to hike to Verkeerderkill Falls in Minnewaska State Park. After hiking several miles to the falls and taking in the views, everyone decided it was lunch time. Ashlee thought it was weird that Mike and Maya decided to sit on one side of the river while she and Dave had crossed over and were sitting on top of the falls on a large rock. While Ashlee was rummaging around for the sandwiches Dave tried to get her to stand back up by telling her Mike and Maya wanted a picture. Ashlee wasn't having it and handed her phone to Dave and told him to take the picture since he was still standing. When Ashlee turned around, with food in hand, there was Dave kneeling face to face and holding a ring! Dave proposed, and Ashlee was so stunned she didn't say anything or really even look at Dave! Once she said yes he put the ring on her finger and sat down beside her. Thank goodness Ashlee said yes or the hike back out would have been awkward to say the least! Shout out to Mike and Maya for taking covert pictures from the other side of the river!