Joe was attending George Mason and happened to be roommates with Valerie's hometown neighbor. He first saw a photo of her and thought she was simply beautiful.

Joe recognized Valerie at a volleyball party at Backyard Dallas! She had lost her wallet but couldn't resist Joe's dazzling smile when he introduced himself. She was so distracted by his charm, that she forgot about her wallet as he was buying her a drink. However, one of Valerie's friends found her wallet, pulled her away to grab it, and when Joe turned around to hand her a drink, Valerie was gone! When she came back for him, he was nowhere to be found. (disclaimer, he simply sat down. In her eyes, the 6'9" charming man had vanished)

Joe and Valerie attended the same tournament at Hofstra University. Decked out in her crazy spandex, Valerie pointed Joe towards the men's court when he arrived, recognizing the dazzling smile. Joe's teammate pointed to Valerie and said "Hey, Joe, that's your future wife over there". Joe asked Valerie out on a proper New York City date after the tournament, and she was over the moon! On their first date, they had the most perfect time, laughing about their past run-ins together, chatting about all things they had in common. The spark was fueled, and in three months, they were not only boyfriend and girlfriend, but also best friends. Joe, as a professional volleyball player, played in Belgium, and Valerie travelled to Europe quite frequently to see him. The two traveled Europe as happy as ever, falling more in love with each other every day! The pandemic gave Joe and Valerie the time to be together back in the states, and their bond & love grew even more! From romantic weekends to moving into their apartment in Jersey City, everything felt like a fairytale.

Joe surprised Valerie with a daycation to Greenport LI, their favorite beach-town to visit together! Valerie stopped in a store briefly and when she came out, Joe was calling her over to where he was standing. There, overlooking the beautiful Greenport waterfront, Joe took Valerie's hands, expressed his forever love and commitment to her, and got down on one knee and asked her to marry him! Joe isn't always the quickest to "hit the ground" per say, but there was no doubt about this moment, and Valerie exclaimed "YES!" before she even saw the most gorgeous ring that Joe gave her as a token of his love. The rest, well, the rest is history!