Corey and Ashley’s journey together began circa 2018. Well, the romantic part at least. A few years earlier the two University of Montana students enrolled in a study abroad in New Zealand during the spring of 2015. Though they were at different schools in different cities, they decided to meet up for a two-week rendezvous across the North Island (shout out to New Zealand’s massive Easter break!). Accompanied by a wild card friend from India—one of their both very dearest, Sahas—they schlepped around Kiwi paradise getting to know the country, and each other, for half a month. The trip brought out some of the highest highs and lowest lows of their relationship to date.

During the following couple years, the two stayed tight friends despite going long periods without seeing one another. In the fall of 2017, after Corey’s first fire season, Ash drove up to Montana from Moab to recertify her EMT. As way of celebrating the reunion, Corey whipped up a fleet of White Russians, the world’s greatest cocktail, and struck up a fire. While the backyard bonfire roared to life, another one was kindling inside each of their hearts. Finally, after three years of friendship, sparks flew.

With a new page turned, priorities started to shift. Though Corey spent half the year in Alaska and Ashley split her time across various spots around the West, including a three-month stint in Chile, they did their best to meet up whenever they could. Battling the swings of distance, the two made a string of decisions that would lead them both back to where they met: Montana. After a nomadic three years, Corey and Ashley found stability in Bozeman in 2021. This would be the first time in their relationship that they lived in the same town.

Throughout the past six exciting years, the duo has taken every opportunity that’s come their way to explore the natural world. They’ve summited lofty volcanoes in Argentina’s high desert, ran ferocious rapids through the Mexican jungle, and skied wildly deep powder everywhere from Telluride to Revelstoke. Best of all, if you ask them, they’re just getting started. Corey and Ashley couldn’t be more excited to continue life’s adventure together by celebrating with loved ones this September 28.

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