Ashley Rene 

June 22nd, 2024 at Brookshire Event Venue

AR: How did you two meet?

E: Jon swiped up on a picture of me holding a brain on Hinge and sent me a corny joke. I tried my best to be funny and flirty back, guess it was enough!

J: We met online on Hinge! Ellen is a science teacher and had a picture of her holding a brain and I messaged something like “Oh thanks for finding that, I’ve been looking for it everywhere”. The rest is history…

AR: What was your first date? 

E: Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at Grandview Cafe. We met for drinks and it ended with me asking Jon for a hug before we left.

J: Our first date was getting drinks at Grandview Cafe. I was living/working in Athens, Ohio at the time while Ellen lived in Columbus, but we made it work to meet up. Ellen “famously” asked for a hug at the end of the date and we both texted each other within 15 minutes that we wanted to see each other again, so I’d say the first date went pretty well!

AR: How did your proposal happen?

E: We were supposed to be meeting our friends for tacos and margs in Gahanna but they were running late so we walked around the Creekside area. As we crossed the final bridge and I was deciding what falcon marg to get Jon for down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Then we went out to dinner and drinks with our family and friends that Jon had planned to come meet up with us.

J: I knew I wanted both of our families there, but since both of them are from out of town, I had to find a weekend that worked for both of them. I asked Ellen’s friend to make fake plans with us at Local Cantina in Gahanna Creekside and then when it was time to meet up she’d say they were running late and so Ellen and I would go on a walk while we “waited”. We ended up being on the bridge in the creekside area and I got down on one knee to ask her to marry me (after she said I owed her some queso still). After, I surprised her with Dinner at Coopers Hawk with both of our families (who were also meeting for the first time) and then a surprise engagement party at Pins with some of our close friends. Couldn’t have been a better day!

AR: What do you remember most from your wedding day?

E: Just being so happy that we were taking this big step together and all our family and friends were there to celebrate and support us. It really feels like a dream, I’m glad we have pictures to remind us that it actually happened and it really did look as beautiful as we hoped and was more sentimental and fun than we hoped. 

J: The thing I remember most from our wedding day was just all the little moments that are now core memories for me and Ellen: our private first look before the ceremony, me taking two stomps to break the glass at the ceremony, my dad breaking it down on the dance floor to Elvis, and us dancing together to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”, to name just a few. We’ve already reminisced about these while on our honeymoon and know they’ll be funny stories to tell our kids one day.