On Thursday, May 27th of 2021, Joel was at his brother's wedding and Michaela was at her college friend's wedding. Both of them were in the wedding party and couldn't wait to support their loved ones on their big day. Leading up to the day Joel and Michaela had not met, but had been encouraged by family members to meet each other. At the wedding, they had not talked much but they couldn't keep their eyes off each other. Right at the end, Joel invited Michaela to join him at his sister's house as the wedding party was going there to have a couple of drinks and hang out. Michaela said, "yes" and Joel drove them back to his sister's house. In the car ride they had plenty of time to talk and there wasn't a moment of silence in the hour and a half car ride. Once the night had came to an end, Joel asked Michaela to text him when she got home safely. Who knew that one night would lead to their forever.

On Saturday, June 26th of 2021, Joel asked Michaela to spend the day at Shady Oak beach. They had a picnic on the beach and spent the afternoon talking about family, friends, life and their faiths. Lost in time they realized they had been talking for a while and ended up continuing the date at Red Rabbit. There, Joel asked Michaela to become exclusive and with a smile from ear to ear on her face she said, "YES!".

From Joel's and Michaela's first interaction to becoming exclusive to getting engaged the journey has felt effortless. From first interactions of going kayaking with friends to mini golfing with family to supporting each other in marathons to traveling to Hawaii with family. From small to large milestones in their lives they couldn't have asked for someone more special to do it with.