Emily and Joey met their freshman year of college at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville (SIUE). Joey played soccer for SIUE and Emily’s best friends played on the women’s soccer team so they met through mutual friends. The first two years of college, Joey and Emily became close friends. Joey frequently attended Emily’s sorority formals and Emily cheered Joey on at his soccer games. They finally began dating their Junior year of college and the rest was history!

On September 22, 2019, Emily and Joey had plans to go to the Farmers Market and brunch in Lincoln Park with their best friends, Taylor and Ben. Emily is very sneaky and not the easiest to surprise, so Joey had to come up with the perfect plan to surprise her. It started off as any ordinary Sunday, they went to the grocery store, walked their dog, Finley, and then got ready for brunch. Taylor and Ben came over and they began walking through the park to go to the farmers market. On their way, Joey wanted to take a detour and walk through the gardens. They walked down to the Pavilion of Lincoln Park which overlooks the city of Chicago and Joey asked Taylor if she would take of picture of him and Emily. As they were getting ready to take a picture, Joey got down on one knee and asked Emily to spend forever with him, and of course she said YES! After he proposed, Joey had secretly planned a small engagement party at their apartment with family and friends.