They first met at a wedding. Technically, they met twice, she says. “The first time was the night before the wedding. We were at hotel watching the World Series. We talked briefly, but we shared the same distaste for Phillip Rivers so I figured he couldn’t be that bad.” The night of the wedding, she pointed him out to her best friend, who later on the dance floor introduced them and then magically disappeared. “We didn’t stop talking for the rest of the night.”

I met up with Ashlie & Kyle in the Iowa City pedestrian mall for their engagement session. I instantly fell in love with Ashlie’s infectious smile.

To continue their story, after the wedding, they started exchanging messages, which led to texting, which led to phone calls, which finally led them to meeting in St. Louis. He impressed her with amazing seats at a Blues hockey game, but what she remembers most is holding his hand on the way out of the stadium that night, eating pizza straight from the box, and laughing. A lot.
When it came to proposing, Kyle’s only goal was to surprise her. “I assumed her getting home from work on a random Friday would do the trick,” he says.

“Kyle lied. Like, straight up, point blank, LIED to my face,” she interjects. “We had been talking for about a year or so about getting married and he finally told me we were going ring shopping. [After picking out the ring], he told me it would be about six months before anything official would happen. I was not thrilled with that development. I was practically besides myself, upset with him, and complaining to my friends that he was never going to actually propose. Because who does that?! Two (super long) weeks later, I was having an awful day, hadn’t showered, wasn’t presentable, and had worked myself up to a tizzy. I planned on telling Kyle that I wasn’t cooking and we were ordering pizza and not moving from the couch that night. But when I opened the door, I saw him. On one knee. In our living room. With the ring in his hand and a grin on his face.”