In June of 2016, Ashley joined a group of friends to celebrate her friend Kelsey’s birthday the proper Texas way—on a party bus headed to float the San Marcos River.

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One of the girls invited happened to be dating Brandan (aka “Gator”), one of Jeb’s longtime best friends, and lucky for Ashley, Jeb has never been one to turn down a river float.

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Over the next six hours, the San Marcos River worked its magic. Somewhere between the floating, Shotgun Island, and a few Coors Lights, Ashley and Jeb hit it off.

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By the end of the day, they exchanged numbers.

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Ashley was immediately drawn to Jeb’s refreshingly straightforward style. In the 20-something dating world of endless texting and mixed signals, Jeb simply said what he meant—and even more shocking… he called, which Ashley would learn was just part of the full Jeb experience.

 

Fast forward to nearly two months, when Jeb invited Ashley to his mom’s lake house. When Ashley arrived, she called and Jeb’s friend Gator answered Jeb's phone. From the background she heard him yell:

 

“Yo Jeb… Alex is here.”

 

Ashley paused.…Alex?

 

When Ashley got down to the dock, she teased Jeb that its been more than a month of dating… and he's just now learned her name?!

 

Jeb’s defense? How often do you actually say someone’s name out loud on one-on-one dates?

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I would like to say they lived happily ever after from there. But it was in 2020, Jeb finally asked Ashley:

 

“Will you… do a couples costume with me?”

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Six years of couples costumes later, Ashley & Jeb were visiting Jeb’s sister, Emily, and 'cunhado', João in Portugal. And while standing at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of Europe—(or as Jeb prefers to call it, the easternmost point of the Gulf of America)— Jeb popped the actual big question. And Ashley said yes.

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And while their love story took time to write…

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