It all started back in 2014 when Ariel asked Joel to accompany her to the Grant Community High School Turnabout Dance.

Look at the little babies!

A week later that is when their story began on March 1, 2014. during a little date night of movies and pizza. Still over a decade later is a go to date idea that they do with their dog Hazel alongside them

As the years grew so did they! From graduating from the same high school to getting our driver licenses to first jobs to going to finding their careers. To them the jobs did not matter, they had the support of one another to get through anything that got in their way. Growing their jobs from Champs to Target to Abbvie or a pizzeria to Six Flags to becoming a Registered Nurse, Joel and Ariel always made sure to have fun and live in the moment. These accomplishments could not have been met without the endless drive and motivation that they give to one another.

Getting to where they are today was through their goal setting as individuals and as a partnership. One that made it all happen is when Ariel stated "I want to have my Nursing degree before we do anything." Joel happily respected; yet, he had no doubt in her. He supported her throughout her educational journey from being her "patient" to reading her papers on "health literacy" and so forth. All through her studies in the end he wanted to celebrate her and her success. In January 2023, Joel came up with an idea of a "birthday weekend" when Ariel was done with school. Obviously, Ariel was going to go with it because he was going to plan it and all she need was to finish strong on her last semester. Ariel did not think twice about it of the weekend picked, June 23rd, because it was between Joel's (June 12th) and Ariel's (July 22nd). Ariel graduated from UW-Milwaukee with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and the start of her boards studying began. As that weekend got closer they were both excited to have short getaway!

On June 22, 2023 came and the couple were ready to head to Puerto Rico! However, that did not come as smooth as they wish (thanks Frontier...).

On June 23rd, their plane touched ground and they heard over the intercom “mi gente”, they made it. Let the vacation begin! Joel brought them to a ranch outside of Isabela, PR, for the experience of a lifetime of horseback riding on the beach. It was Ariel’s dream with her absolute love of horses. From that they experience local food and ice cream then get ready for their picnic. Joel drove them close to Playa Tortuguero. Here is the big moment! Ariel gets out of the car and sees locals and greets them and she starts hearing the song All of Me from John Legend. She did not put two and two together. As she walks down the beach hill, peering over the brush she runs back up to Joel all nervous stating, “that’s not for us, that’s too fancy!” Joel reassured her endlessly to go all the way down to look again. She did and that’s when she noticed the marquee letters spelling out “Marry Me”. Joel out did himself for having the moment captured in real time. A picture perfect moment with a dream come true for his princess. She said, “Yes!”.

June 23rd of 2023 was the best day of their lives! Yet, we can not wait for our families and friends to come together to witness a love story to flourish greater on June 28, 2025.