We're getting married!

Ashley and Mike met in college at the University of Maryland their freshman year! Sparks quickly flew and they started dating just two months after starting college, and shared their first kiss 0.2 miles behind Oakland Hall. Through their college years, covid, post-grad, and numerous traveling adventures, their love has continued to flourish. 7 years later, Mike asked Ashley to marry him on the Cape May beach at sunrise, on a trip with the same friends they had at the start of their relationship in college.

Mike designed the engagement ring using Ashley's input he obtained through clever means of extracting ring criteria from her without her noticing (kinda). He got the ring in August 2026 with a plan to propose to her on a trip to Cape May during Labor Day Weekend with all of their mutual college friends. He felt this was most appropriate, since the story of how they met freshman year of college was with the same group of friends that would be on this trip, creating a full-circle moment. Mike asked Ashley to watch the sunrise on the beach, which she correctly thought was suspicious as Mike notoriously never wakes up that early. He recruited their friends and future groomsmen, Kurnal and Dominic, to be the photographers for the proposal. They sneakily hid inside a cabana on the beach, before Mike and Ashley arrived at 6am for the sunrise. The weather was perfect, the sunrise full of color, and love was in the air! Mike and Ashley had a great time watching the sunrise, and when Mike started talking about their relationship and their future, Ashley knew what was about to happen. Mike got down on one knee and asked Ashley to marry him, and she said yes!!! They spent the rest of the day celebrating with their college friends and ended the evening with a lovely champagne toast set up by their friend Bob's family at the Grand Hotel in Cape May, enjoying a magical rooftop sunset.