Zach and Ansley met through both working at the U.S. Capitol; at the time Ansley worked for the House Budget Committee and Zach for a Congresswoman who was on the Committee. Zach's supervisor tasked him with doing three weekly networking "coffee meetings", so in September 2021 he emailed Ansley to meet. They sat down and talked about their career paths to that point, mutual friends, Ansley's favorite tv show to watch on repeat (Friends), and their anticipation of the upcoming Budget Reconciliation package.

After that, they exchanged friendly hellos in the hallway until February 2022. When Zach's grandfather passed away, Ansley reached out via Facebook message to share her condolences and mentioned their common family ties to Arkansas, which Zach viewed as a sign of interest.

Soon after, they attended the same going-away happy hour for one of Ansley's coworkers. They sat next to each other at the bar and got to know one another while watching Murray State basketball (Ansley’s mom’s alma mater.) Zach ended the night by asking for Ansley's phone number, and texted her the next day to ask her out for their first date at The Eastern wine bar on Capitol Hill, where they enjoyed watching the first night of March Madness games. The rest is history!