In March 2016, Katie spent a weekend in Nashville attending her friend Alexis' bachelorette party. After the party, Katie flew out of Nashville (BNA) to meet her sister Colleen in Florida for a trip to Walt Disney World. While waiting in the Southwest terminal at BNA, Katie happened to sit down next to Sam, who was flying back home to Kansas City. Similar to Katie, Sam had spent the weekend in Nashville attending his friend Alex's bachelor party. They struck up a conversation, and after a few drinks and many stories, they walked together to their gates, which were adjacent to one another. Before they had to say goodbye and board their respective planes, Sam asked Katie for her phone number, as he was very impressed with the woman that he had just met.

When Katie got off the plane in Florida, she had received a text from Sam, stating how much he enjoyed their chance encounter at BNA. This was the first of many texts and phone calls that Sam and Katie would share with one another for the next several weeks. During their conversations, Sam asked Katie to be his date for a wedding that was in Indiana over Memorial Day weekend. Katie agreed to attend, and their first date weekend together consisted of dinner in Indianapolis' Broad Ripple neighborhood, attending the above-mentioned wedding, and experiencing all that the 100th annual Indy 500 had to offer. This weekend in Indy was the start of Katie becoming Sam's forever wedding date.

After their storybook meeting and amazing first weekend together, it became quite apparent that Sam and Katie were taking quite the interest in one another. However, they knew right away that for their relationship to grow, they would have to overcome the distance between where they lived. Katie was from Columbus, Ohio, and was still residing in the area. Meanwhile, Sam was originally from Chicago but was living in Kansas City at the time. Over the next several months, Sam and Katie took big steps by traveling to one another's homes and meeting each other's families.

As their relationship continued to grow, Sam and Katie began traveling more frequently to see one another. Not only did they travel to one another's cities, but Sam and Katie began taking weekend trips to visit new cities. For the next 2+ years, Sam and Katie would visit 9 states, 9 MLB stadiums, and many other museums and events together. Throughout all of their travels to see one another, Sam and Katie flew solely on Southwest Airlines and began to build a friendship with their Columbus employees.

During her summer vacation in 2018, Katie spent several weeks with Sam in Kansas City. While they were together, they spent time looking at engagement rings, as they knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with one another. As Katie was returning to Columbus to begin her new school year, Sam was moving to Fort Worth, Texas, as he had taken on a promotion with his employer, BNSF Railway. Unbeknownst to Katie, right before Sam moved from Kansas City to Texas, he purchased an engagement ring and began organizing the proposal.

One weekend in late September, Sam flew into Columbus to spend the weekend with Katie. On Saturday the 22nd, they planned to visit the Columbus Science and Industry Museum (COSI) and have lunch across the Scioto River at Milestone 229. After parking at COSI, Katie and Sam began walking across the Rich Street bridge so they could look at the downtown Columbus skyline. Little did Katie know, Sam had organized with both his and Katie's families for them to be staged on the bridge, as this would be where Sam would propose to Katie. As they got to the top of the bridge, Sam got down on one knee and proposed to Katie, and she said yes. All of their immediate family members were there to see the proposal, and the rest of the day was spent celebrating this special moment.