Joe and Stephanie met in August of 2012 at Millikin University when Stephanie decided to go visit a friend, who happened to be Joe's RA. Stephanie's friend was introducing her to all her residence, when Joe, carrying a case of water and just having climbed three flights of stairs, shook Stephanie's hand.

Her first impression? Firm handshake.

In October of 2012, Joe was out with a group of friends when he ran into Stephanie at a party. Stephanie noticed that a girl in his group was one of her scholars. Stephanie decided to give her her number just in case she needed anything, when Joe asked if he could take down Stephanie's number too.

She didn't care and let him have it.

The Thursday before Black Friday of 2012, Joe was waiting in line to get a good deal, and decided to text two people; one, Stephanie's scholar who he had been hanging out with the night he got her number, and Stephanie. Stephanie ended up being the one to respond.

They chatted and ultimately decided to hang out and watch Pirates of the Caribbean that Saturday, for their first time spending time together.

For the next several weeks, Joe would pursue Stephanie; spending time with her friends, introducing her to his friends, and getting rejected several times by her because she was sure she didn't want a relationship in college. After deciding that she should give it a shot, and knew he wouldn't ask her out after she rejected him, on December 14, 2012, Stephanie asked Joe to date.

In December 2022, Joe asked Stephanie to take a day off of work so they could spend the day together to try out a restaurant in Monticello, IL. As they were driving, Stephanie wondered how close the restaurant was to her old coworkers new building for her custom design and jewelry business. As they drove through town, she saw the building and pointed it out, that's when Joey pulled into the parking lot.

Figuring he had done this so she could say hi and catch up with her before lunch, Stephanie and Joe entered the building. As her coworkers assistant chatted with Joe, she said "She's just finishing something up and will be out in a minute." Stephanie, surprised, turned to Joe and asked "Do you have an appointment?" Joe then told Stephanie that their whole lunch trip was actually to design her engagement ring,

Friday, May 19, Stephanie's friend text her asking if she wanted to go to Rock Springs, a local nature preserve, to get some wildflowers for an art project. Thinking that nothing was out of the ordinary, Stephanie said yes and even asked to get lunch beforehand.

The next morning, Stephanie woke up, and told Joe she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to lunch anymore and might just meet her at the park. Joe ended up convincing her to go. Little did she know that when she left to meet with her friend, Joe also left to head to Rock Springs.

After some shopping and a delicious dairy free lunch, Stephanie and her friend finally headed to Rock Springs. Unbeknownst to Stephanie, her friend had been texting Joe the entire time about what they were up to. Stephanie's friend led them into the pine forest with the ruse of needing pine needles and pine cones. While Stephanie was looking for pine cones, she looked up to ask her friend a question, when Joe appeared in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. Then suddenly, he got down on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?" Stunned, Stephanie froze for a minute with tears in her eyes and finally said, "Well yeah!"