An important message to all non-believers: love still exists.
Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon got engaged in Mexico on Sunday. Whether or not you keep up with The Bachelor and all of its spinoffs, along with all the off-air couple drama, you can appreciate the tale of the imperfect, three-years-in-the-making love story between these former Bachelor in Paradise contestants.
For those less acquainted with Ashley and Jared’s relationship, here's a bit of backstory: The two first met in 2015 on Bachelor in Paradise. Ashey fell hard for Jared, but Jared was apparently not feeling it. Despite Jared’s shutting down of Ashley’s advances, the two remained close friends, but it wasn’t until he tagged along on a visit to Virginia in support of Ashley’s charity event that Jared wanted to break things out of the friend-zone.
After the trip, everything changed. “I was in love. That was such a different experience being with someone in the show and in real life,” Jared told People. He also admitted to being wooed by Ashley’s charm, commenting that she is “just so down to earth and easy-going, ambitious…sexy.”
Jared’s shifting affections were not a mystery to Ashley, who chimed in,“I knew that he was looking at me!”
A few months later, after Ashley I. called it quits on her relationship with Kevin Wendt (a former contestant of Bachelor Winter Games), Jared made his move and professed his feelings in a love letter (I mean, does it get any more classic than that?). The pair officially started dating in May and now it looks like they are ready to tie the knot.
Well, there you have it. Love isn’t dead. If you still have doubts, go watch Ashley’s YouTube show, The Story of Us, which features an episode about her own journey to love with Jared. If this fails to crush the cynic in you and turn you into a hopeless romantic then IDK what will.
