Marty's Version: (I promise mine's the real story...)

-Sometime in summer of 2018-

It was a typical summer weekend on the East Side - riding our Harleys, taking Lance's boat out with the boys to rendezvous at "The Moot" and coming back to land in the evening for beers and dinner at The Sand Bar on Jefferson Ave. While whooping it up during dinner, the waitress brought us a round of shots that we didn't order. I told her, "excuse me, but we didn't order these - you might have the wrong table". She proceeded to tell us, "no, you're fine, these are from the guy sitting up at the bar over there". So, we took the shots and afterwards I staggered my sun burnt-self over to this generous man to thank him. We ended up talking and laughing for about 15 minutes while introducing ourselves a bit. Turns out, his name is Deni and he was the owner of the bar as well as several others scattered throughout Metro Detroit called 'Johnny Black's'. Ultimately, he ended up asking me if I would work for him as one of his bartenders for a new Johnny Black's location opening in November in Waterford (where he knew I lived). For whatever reason, he thought I was funny and charismatic and thought it would be a good fit. I hesitated and explained that it might be tough with my career at GM and getting up at 5 am every morning. He basically told me to shut up, that I was still young, not to worry and that I could just work one night a week and make some extra money while helping him open their new location. #mutuallybeneficial

We exchanged numbers and a couple months went by, and then one day I heard back from him asking if I would like to start training at their Rochester location to get ready for the Waterford grand opening. So I did. I decided what harm could come from making some extra money and meeting a lot of new people in the process. Turns out, that would be the best decision I ever made.

-Wednesday, June 26th, 2019 // Johnny Black's, Waterford, MI -

It was an 80-degree June day around 3:30pm and I was commuting home from work and would be heading into Johnny Black's to bartend that night. I received a phone call from my roommate and co-bartender at the time, JD. The reason for this phone call was because JD wanted to inform me that we had 2 new girls starting tonight and we had to train them... but that wasn't all. These weren't just any girls - no, they were TWIN PEAKS girls... wHoA. Just kiddin', I didn't really care that much, but JD was all about it. I just kinda laughed and said something along the lines of, "haha, oh cool, man". He continued by saying, "yeah, but one of them has a boyfriend". I thought to myself, "wow, JD already really did his homework".

About an hour later, I pulled up to JB's, walked inside and clocked in. Fast forward about 20 minutes, I saw our two new girls walk in together and sit down and a table near the bar with our manager to fill out paperwork. Now... I know a minute ago I said I didn't care... but when I first saw the blonde sitting there talking to our manager I turned to JD and said, "dude, please tell me that the blonde is not the one with the boyfriend". He had no idea.. (so much for that homework he had done).

After finishing their paperwork, they came behind the bar with JD and I and we exchanged names and got to work. It was pretty obvious, fairly quickly that they were both very outgoing and fun to work with, so as the night went on we all got to know each other a little more. We all exchanged Snapchats, like any 20 something year-old would, had a few shots while we worked and had a pretty awesome night. I'd like to think I played it pretty cool even though after a few hours there was something about Ashley, 'the blonde', that made me interested. She was super outgoing and had a very sassy and sarcastic sense of humor like I did. Needless to say, we got along really well throughout the entire shift. The image at the top of this story is the first night we met while working and is the first photo Ashley and I are in together.. as you can see, I look stoked to be there.

- 4th of July Week // Caseville, MI (about a week after we met) -

A week later, Josh (my best man) and I rode our Harleys up to Caseville to meet a bunch of friends for the holiday week. We stayed on the beach and did that whole quintessential "Michigan summer" thing for about 4 or 5 days. This whole time I had been posting stories of our week on my Snapchat story... this included clips of Josh and I riding, all of our friends playing football on the beach, having beach bonfires, shooting fireworks and of course some heavy drinking. One of those nights, I got a message from Ashley on Snapchat. Basically, she realized I like to have fun, and a lot of it, and wanted to join sometime. So, she asked if I would take her for a ride when I got back from my trip. Of course, I said 'yes'.

But, then a couple weeks had gone by and I hadn't really said anything to her and it left her asking once again, something like, "hey, how about that ride?" I knew we had worked together and I didn't want things to get weird and I wasn't really interested in a relationship at the time, so I was a bit hesitant. But finally, I invited her out with me and some of my friends one weekend. There was an event going on one Saturday at the Harley dealership by my house. Myself and a few friends were going to go up there for a bit, then go for a ride, then come back to my house to have a party later that night. Ashley ended up coming over early that day (sometime in the morning) and for the first time she got on the back of my bike and I took her to the dealership event with me. I introduced her to some of the employees I knew at the shop as well as some close friends that joined us that day. It was that afternoon, despite it being the first time we had ever hung out, I knew I needed to get to know her more. I couldn't stop watching her and couldn't believe how well she got along with all my friends and how much fun she was. Her laugh and smile were contagious and I was hooked. We all shotgunned beers in the dealership parking lot, ate some food, laughed and were enjoying our Saturday.

A bit later, we all went back to my house for the night and had a little party. We all ended up staying up all night (literally) until the sun came up. Everyone finally ended up going home and I'm assuming back to bed, but all I could think about was how into this girl I was all of a sudden, and how badly I wanted to get to know her more.

- July 27, 2019 // Kensington Metropark, Milford, MI -

The next weekend, Ashley and I went out together, just us two, for the first time. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we threw a couple kayaks in my truck and went to Kensington Metropark. We kayaked out to this tiny island in the middle of Kent Lake and while we were there we swam in the lake together and set up my hammock and sat in it together and talked for hours. I was quickly realizing I needed to be around this girl more - It was confirmed on this day that I definitely was starting to catch feelings.

- August 2, 2019 // DTE Energy Theatre, Clarkston, MI -

I didn't know it yet, but tonight would be the night I fell for Ashley Hayes. Me and 4 or 5 of my friends and their girlfriends/wives rode up to DTE for a Chris Stapleton concert (my favorite musician, in case you're wondering). It was a night to remember - so much that I remember the moment I knew I would love this girl for the rest of my life. At some point during the concert we had been separated from our friends and we found ourselves alone on 'the hill'.. Chris Stapleton started strumming the chords to what is now one of our favorite songs together, "Fire Away". We danced together a little, sang along, couldn't stop smiling at each other and exchanged a few kisses. It turned out to be one of those nights I will never forget.

A week later, I officially asked her to be my girlfriend... and let's be honest, the rest was history. The more time I spent with her, the more and more obvious it became that this was my person. I got to know her so well in a relatively short amount of time and everything was so easy and made so much sense all of a sudden. I got to meet her family and friends and it all seemed too good to be true, but luckily for me, it wasn't.

- August 28, 2019 // Upper Peninsula, MI -

As some of you may know, Ashley went to school at Northern Michigan University in the U.P., so we decided to take a week off together and do a little road trip. For the sake of those reading this and me developing carpal tunnel, I won't get into too much detail here to try and keep this novel a bit short, but it was a killer trip. We did all the U.P. classics like camping at Pictured Rocks and hiking popular trails nearby. I even saw the Northern Lights for my very first time at like 2 AM....holy shit. I thought I was the only one on the beach taking photos (it was pitch black) and then all of a sudden I saw camera lights flickering for a mile in either direction - there was probably 50 or more photographers up and down the lakeshore trying to capture this moment.

-October 6, 2019 // Colorado, USA -

We upped the ante a bit and went out west together. We spent about a week out in Colorado and had the time of our lives. Little did either of us know this is where I would propose to her in the future. We did some incredible hikes, stayed in some really cool places and fell more and more in love.

- November 22, 2019 // Dalton, OH -

We did something a little crazy, but it turned out to be the 2nd best decision I ever made besides taking that bartending job that allowed me to meet my future wife... we got a puppy. That day, Ashley got off work early in the afternoon and we drove 4 hours down to the middle of nowhere in a small Amish farm town in Ohio to meet our new pup. That pup was an 8 week old golden retriever who we named Paisley. Over two years later, at the time I'm writing this, she's napping underneath my desk and I don't regret our decision for one minute. We do everything with her from sleeping, to hiking, to swimming - I can't imagine if we never went to Ohio that day.

- July 3, 2021 // Rocky Mountain National Park, CO -

A lot has happened up to this point, but I think we hit on a lot of the major parts of 'our story' that you get the idea. When COVID struck and stay-at-home orders were issued in March 2020, Ashley and I had spent SO much time together. I was working from home, we couldn't go anywhere and we spent as much time together in that first year of COVID that some couples probably do in 5 or more years. We're talking 24/7, literally. Needless to say, it was the ultimate test. While Facebook saw a lot of break-ups, divorces and depressing relationship memes, Ashley and I had never been better. As the weeks went by and the stay-at-home orders kept rolling in, I continued to fall more and more in love with her.

On July 3rd, 2021, Ashley and I did a 6 hour hike up to a spot called "Lake of Glass" in RMNP. When we got to the top of the mountain to where this lake was she started to try and make a PB&J sandwich, but I so rudely interrupted and forced her to take a couple pictures with me first. During our little photoshoot I got down on one knee, asked her to spend her life with me and proposed to her.

It's crazy how life works sometimes and how some of the best things that happen to us are when we least expect it. It's even crazier when I think about how if I would have never went to the East Side to visit my friends that day, if we would have never gone to Sand Bar for dinner and drinks after being on the boat, if Deni would not have been at his bar that night, if he never would have ordered some random guys at a table a round of shots, if I wouldn't have got up to thank him, if he would have never offered me that job, and that if I never would have taken it that I would never have met the girl of my dreams. Now, here I sit, with that girl 8 feet behind me studying for one of her nursing classes, probably wondering if I'm writing my first book, and I couldn't be happier. I've never met someone that compliments what my soul wants on so many levels - as a girlfriend, as a fiancé, as a best friend and as the future mother of my children. I truly feel like the luckiest man alive.

I love you Ashley Rose.

Q + A

Where is the ceremony located?

What time does the ceremony start?

Where is the reception?