Joe and Ashley met during their sophomore year of college, in October 2021. Ashley was preparing for a formal date party at Mississippi State but didn't have a date. After a careful vetting process, her mutual friends found a decent-looking guy named Joe ;) After formal, Ashley and Joe went on many more dates, spending as much time as they could together. After 2 years of dating, traveling, and many more date parties, Joe proposed to Ashley on October 28th, 2023.

Joe came up with the best thought out surprise for the proposal. This past fall Joe was living in Starkville, but Ashley was in Cincinnati completing an internship so they spent many weekends traveling to visit each other. Joe had a surprise trip in the works for one of their free weekends. In the weeks prior to the proposal, Joe got in touch with some of Ashley's friends at home to help pull off the surprise. On October 28, Joe woke up very early to fly from Starkville to Cincinnati to propose. Ashley thought she was just having a fun Saturday with her friends! As they made their way to the Khron Conservatory in Cincinnati, Ashley casually mentioned to her friend that she hadn't heard from Joe all day. Little did she know, Joe was patiently waiting for her arrival just minutes away. Ashley then arrived and was told to keep walking until she reached the waterfall. All of a sudden Ashley saw Joe standing under the waterfall and was in total shock that he was even there. Then, Joe got down on one knee and asked Ashley to marry him and she gladly said yes!