Cam and Ariana met at freshman orientation at Ball State University in 2015. She was sitting in a crowded auditorium when Cam entered with his friend and said, "I'm going to find the prettiest girl here and sit next to her." He sat next to Ariana and introduced himself. Shortly after, it was fate when Cam and Ariana were randomly assigned to the same small group of new students to play icebreaker games. When the group was instructed to go up to a stranger and take a selfie with them, Cam rushed over to Ariana, snapped a selfie, and smoothly asked for her number to send her the picture. They texted a bit throughout the summer, but their connection really started growing once school started. They joined a fraternity and a sorority that often paired for events, developed mutual friends, and even became neighbors later on in college.

On a chilly Friday evening in December, Cam told Ariana to bundle up and wear something cute, because he was taking her to meet some friends at Enchant: a Hallmark Christmas Village in Nashville. As she walked in, distracted by the Christmas lights, he was nervously able to sneak the ring box out of his pocket around the metal detector without her noticing. When they got to the ice skating rink, Cam said he wanted to take a picture on the ice. Surrounded by the glow of Christmas lights, he managed to get down on a knee (with ice skates on!) and asked her to marry him. Of course, she said yes! After the proposal, he took her to a nearby restaurant overlooking the village where they were met by the applause of family and friends.