As many other people these days, Joy and Jonathan met on an app called Hinge. Joy had just moved to Boston in the dead of winter 2019, and Jonathan's good friend Taylor had convinced him it was a great way to meet people. Jonathan asked Joy to go salsa dancing, and though she didn't know how (and is still learning), she loves to dance and agreed to go, much to Jonathan's surprise! Regardless of the fact that Joy played it cool and Jonathan thought he was being friend zoned, they had a great time, and two days later, went to do something much more Joy's style at the time...country line dancing. Despite the distance between them (Joy in Boston and Jonathan in Portsmouth, NH), they spent nearly every weekend from this point on together, and by mid April, decided they were both ready to declare this an official relationship.

It was a snowy day before Halloween...much to Joy's annoyance and Jonathan's delight. Joy went to work as any other day, and planned to be picked up after for a Halloween party. She had no idea that during the day, Jonathan would be putting together the last minute details, including picking up donuts from Kane's, Joy's favorite donut spot in Boston. They'd already closed and it took Jonathan holding the ring up to the window to convince them to reopen and sell him a dozen donuts, just like a movie! Since the workday was slow for Joy, she was spending some time chatting with a manager and working on a last minute Halloween costume, when one of the store associates interrupted and said that Joy had a friend visiting the store. It turned out to be Sara (one of the bridesmaids!), who created a diversion to bring Joy out of the store and to the church on the corner of the street, where Jonathan was waiting with the ring. With the snow falling and cars driving past honking and shouting out their best wishes, Jonathan got down on one knee and asked Joy to marry him. In the end, Joy's managers let her leave slightly early, they skipped the Halloween party, and then obviously enjoyed some donuts together :)