Jack and Beth met on the first day of college at Saint Louis University. Beth had lived in the St. Louis area all her life. Jack moved to St. Louis from the Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake. On that fateful first night of college, Jack's dorm floor took Beth's dorm floor out on a floor date to a restaurant by campus, where... Beth and Jack would not come into contact at all. Later that night, there was a freshman welcome street carnival. Beth was there with a friend she made at orientation, and they very kindly offered hold a snow cone for two strapping young men who were trying to play a carnival game. Neither of those men were Jack, but they were Jack's college roommate and Groomsman Paul Madsen and the Best Man Christian Barbosa. You see, Jack had left the carnival early with another group of people and was not hanging out with Christian and Paul. After the street carnival, Beth, Christian, Paul, and some other friends headed back to the dorms to hang out in Beth's dorm room and play the board game Taboo. As fate would have it, Christian needed to get his guitar from his room (which was directly across the hall from Jack and Paul's room) before they went to Beth's room to play the game. Just as they got to Christian's room, Jack opened the door to his dorm room and first laid eyes on his future wife. Beth was her usual outgoing and bubbly self and invited Jack to play the game with them. A little shocked and a bit confused, Jack accepted the invitation.

After that night, the whole group became good friends and began exploring the city together. As more and more time passed, Beth and Jack became best friends and eventually realized that there was something more than friendship between them. In classic fashion, Jack missed 99% of the hints and signs Beth was showing about wanting to be in a relationship. That is not to say he was not equally interested in a relationship with Beth. Finally, while watching Miracle (appropriately named for how a lady like Beth could want to be with Jack), their hands touched each other and fit perfectly. A few days later on October 18th, 2011, Jack asked Beth to be his girlfriend and thus began their courtship. It did not take long into their relationship before they knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together as husband and wife.

After 5 happy years together as boyfriend and girlfriend, Jack decided (read: was told) that the perfect way to propose marriage to Beth was on a hike, something they try to do together whenever they can. On January 1, 2017, Jack and Beth went on a hike on the Bluff View Trail in Castlewood State Park to get some fresh air and be in nature to celebrate a new year. Overlooking the Meramac River, Jack and Beth discussed their New Year's resolutions. Jack stated, "I would like to be the best husband I can be" and got down on one knee to ask Beth to marry him. Beth said "YES!" and they have been looking forward to their upcoming marriage ever since!