Her Story: Social media proved to be a game-changer in September of 2019 when I came across Carter on Instagram in a Country Concert post. After adding him, Carter slid into my DMs, contrary to what his story may be. As a True Crime fanatic, I confirmed with Google that I would be safe. After discovering a Tweet from Carter where he was mad at his mom for not allowing him to spit loogies in their sink "even though she puts raw chicken in it," I figured he was not a serial killer. We then decided to meet at the finest establishment in Lima, Ohio for our first date… Olive Garden. Nothing says romance like unlimited breadsticks and bottomless salad. From that point on, our relationship grew; we both tried to surprise each other with Justin Moore concert tickets, I took him to his first Notre Dame game (though I’m still working on converting him to the “good side”), we rang in 2020 together during a power outage, went to New Orleans for the NCAA March Madness Finals, and have even traveled to 10 states together! In February of 2022, I decided to make the move from St. Marys to Beavercreek, Ohio. With so many weddings attended as each other’s plus ones, it was only natural that we would want to be next. Despite inadvertently sabotaging all of Carter’s previous plans at proposing, he popped the question in Sylvania, Ohio in September of 2022 after almost forgetting his dress clothes in Dayton – a very on-brand scenario when I am not there to remind him. As they say, the rest is history! His Story: It is often said that love is blind, and while that is often the case, I wouldn’t say that Ash and I started that way. Now I know what you may be thinking, "Carter, looks fade but love doesn’t...", but most will probably be surprised that I’m not talking about me being the one being blinded by Ashleigh’s beauty. It all started when Ashleigh saw me on Instagram and couldn’t help but to fire off a friend request to yours truly. In all seriousness, after having her be the first to make the move, I knew I had to impress her with a really fancy first date. I must have been scrolling through Google for hours trying to find the perfect spot, and where did we end up? Olive Garden. Yes, that’s exactly right. The pinnacle of fine dining. I was somehow able to recover from that first date disaster. It wasn't long after that when we both realized how much we had in common. One example is we both blew out the same knee and had surgery the same year. After four years of going to concerts, sporting events, and traveling, it felt like the right time to propose. If anyone knows Ashleigh's calendar, you know there are very few free days. I spent the next few months, ring in hand, watching event after event be added to the calendar on days I was trying to propose. My nerves and the calendar finally aligned in September of 2022, and here we are, the (almost) Petruskys!