Joseph and Katie met at Franciscan University of Steubenville, sometime their freshman year. They remained acquaintances throughout their early years at Franciscan University through the numerous mutual friends they had, but they never become close friends during this time. This circumstance changed their senior year. Joseph remembers the moment he first knew they would become closer friends. After He had a rough day, Katie noticed his demeanor, and invited him to join her and a couple others in studying. Joseph felt very touched by the gesture. Before long, Joseph decided to ask Katie out on a date. Not expecting much success, when Katie said yes to his question, his brain short circuited, and it took him a good 30 seconds to say anything again. Joseph and Katie's first date was at the Breakfast Club. After a slightly awkward and nervous date, Joseph drove Katie back, and asked her if she would be interested in having another date... which she declined. Joseph was disappointed at first, but soon he accepted it as the start of a strong friendship. However, as you probably know by now, this was not the end of their story.

After their first date, Katie and Joseph formed a strong bond of friendship. But when graduation approached, they both grew anxious about what life post-college would look like. One day, while commiserating about how they expected many of their friends to drift away after graduating, they both agreed to try and hold onto their friendship. Joseph told Katie that she could call him anytime she liked, even if it meant calling him everyday. Joseph didn't fully expect her to take him up on this offer, but she soon proved him wrong. She had been living life beside him for almost a whole year at school and things just weren't right without that. Despite the newfound distance, their friendship only continued to grow. Over the next six months, Joseph slowly came to the realization that God was turning his heart back towards Katie. Out of fear of driving a wedge between them, he chose to keep these thoughts to himself. Joseph trusted that if God truly was telling him to ask Katie out, He would also lead Katie to this very same conclusion. Eventually, Katie too realized that she wasn't open to dating anyone else at the cost of her relationship with Joseph. While talking to Joseph about this, he chose to unveil his thoughts on the matter. In March, Joseph and Katie decided to pray a Novena to St Rita (who had helped Joseph's own discernment that previous summer and fall) to help discern a relationship. At the end of the ninth day, Joseph asked Katie to be his girlfriend, and she accepted. They now celebrate their anniversary on March 21st... in central time. It was past midnight for Katie, so she celebrates on March 22nd.

Despite dating for less than a year, their relationship had its fair share of trials. One of the most notable was the death of Joseph's mother, just four months after they started dating. Katie stuck by his side every minute through the incredibly difficult time that followed. It was because of this tremendous love he experienced that Joseph knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Around Thanksgiving, Joseph and Katie started to enter into discussions of marriage. He decided to propose to Katie the next time he visited her, that coming January. Joseph and Katie already had a date planned for that visit, so it would be easy to hijack that, and make it a fun surprise. Katie agreed to get Joseph her ring size, but as she didn't realize the time pressure Joseph was under, she took a bit longer than he would have liked (which Katie says should be one of the mottos of their relationship). The date itself involved going to a big, pretty, and mostly empty park. There, Joseph saw a giant hill, and brought Katie to the peak. Then, Joseph asked Katie to marry him. Neither of them fully remember the details of that moment as she was too surprised and he was too nervous, but obviously Katie said yes. The first thing Joseph and Katie did as an engaged couple was go to Mass together.