John and Caty met in 7th grade and slowly became friends. Both in band, they became closer friends. They started dating March 16, 2016, their Junior year of high school. They both did winterguard in high school and then spun for an independent guard after high school.

This past year, John was going to propose in Dayton, Ohio (which is where the championships are held for Winterguard). Unfortunately, COVID canceled the whole competition as well as the season. His next plan was to propose during fireworks at Cinderella's Royal Table in the Magic Kingdom on their four years. Disney decided they were going to close their doors the day before their four years, so John had to come up with a quick "Plan C". They went to the Magic Kingdom on March 14th and spent the majority of the day riding rides and taking pictures. Caty loves to take pictures of places she loves so she took John to the Wishing well to the right side of the castle. As she was taking a picture of the well with the castle in the background, John got down on one knee and the rest is history.