handed out his coveted final rose to on The Bachelor season 28.
While their relationship seemed steady throughout the show, which premiered in January 2024, it hit a slight speed bump during fantasy suite week when Kelsey left an ominous note card that read, “We need to talk.”
The message led the tennis pro to spiral into thinking she would quit, but she ultimately just wanted to reiterate her feelings for Joey. While his shaken reaction made her fearful that he’d send her packing, he gave her a rose.
The couple got engaged during the season finale on the beaches of Tulum, Mexico, after runner-up quit the show. “I have known for a while that I’ve wanted to have a beautiful life, but I truly didn’t know how beautiful that life could be until I met you,” he told Kelsey as he got down on one knee.
Scroll down for more of Joey and Kelsey’s relationship timeline:
1st Night
When Kelsey stepped out of the limo on the season premiere, she paid homage to her New Orleans roots by showing up with a voodoo doll. After she kissed the doll, Joey pretended that he felt it too.
1st One-on-One Date
Kelsey received her first one-on-one date in Marbella, Spain, where he picked her up on a Vespa and had his so-called Lizzie McGuire moment. During the night portion of the date, Kelsey candidly shared that her mom died in 2018 after a battle with breast cancer.
2nd One-on-One Date
Kelsey received a second one-on-one date in Jasper, Canada, where the pair participated in the polar plunge. Joey later admitted exclusively to Us Weekly that he knew he was falling in love with Kelsey during the date.
“It was really after our second one-on-one in Jasper, how just great that day was, how much we were starting to continue to see things move forward and not take any steps back. That was when I kind of truly knew that I was falling in love with her,” Joey said. “But as always, it’s a feeling — it takes time for you to feel comfortable to share those words and there needs to be the right space and you need to think everything through.”
Meeting Kelsey’s Family
For Kelsey’s hometown date, the couple traveled to New Orleans, where they explored the city and ate beignets before meeting her family.
“My feelings for her are real and they do make sense. I’m extremely hopeful, I really am,” Joey told Kelsey’s dad, , during the episode. Kelsey, for her part, admitted in a confessional that she wanted to “blurt that I love him.”
Fantasy Suite
Viewers watched Kelsey drop the L-word to Joey during their fantasy suite date to which Joey replied, “I’m falling in love with you, fully.”
After spending the day and night together, they woke up and cooked breakfast in their pajamas. Despite their date going well, Kelsey left Joey the “We need to talk” note while he was in the fantasy suite with Daisy.
Kelsey and Joey later had a conversation, where she expressed her feelings to him again.
“We made a promise to each other about, like, you know, being honest to each other about communicating our feelings and communication in general,” Kelsey said. “And I know how important all that is. I just wanted you to know exactly how I feel about it all. I just really wanted to verbalize that it’s hard not seeing you and the days in between are always so hard. All these feelings of, like, missing [you] and wondering. … I just want to tell you how much I miss you when you aren’t there.”
Proposal
After Daisy knew it wasn’t her at the final rose ceremony, Joey popped the question to Kelsey during the season finale.
“I know there’s a lot of tough decisions through this journey, and that’s what makes today really difficult. But there is nothing difficult about choosing you. And I can’t wait another minute to tell you that I love you,” Joey said during his proposal speech. “There is something about you. You have this infectious energy that makes me smile. It’s a feeling I’ve never had before. I know during this time that we’ve built a very strong flame and the only reason I know that flame will never go out is because you’re my light.”
After the Final Rose
During the live After the Final Rose, Joey admitted that they had “difficult” moments watching the show back, but are still going strong.
“It’s been great in a lot of ways, but we won’t lie it’s been difficult too,” Joey said during the March 2024 episode. “I think a lot of people forget how difficult of a position she’s is into watch all this back with everyone else and understand that I’m trying to figure out everything from the point that we were at, at that time. But we have grown so much since then.”
Kelsey revealed that she and Joey planned to reside in New Orleans before moving to New York in summer 2024.
Finding Love With Kelsey
One day after the finale aired, Joey gushed over his journey to find love, and his fiancée, in a sweet social media post.
“Just checking in as the luckiest guy in the world,” he wrote via Instagram alongside a carousel of snaps of the pair. “What a beautiful ending to such an amazing experience. All of this started back in January of 2023, when I received a DM from a Producer on the Bachelor who asked me if I’d be interested in going on a Reality TV Show to find love. I questioned if it would be for me, if it could actually work, if it was the right atmosphere for me to find a true love.”
He continued, “I now sit here today knowing that it was hands down the best decision of my life. Everything that has happened since that day has led me to this remarkable woman that is unlike anyone I have met in my life. She is kind, beautiful, goofy, original, authentic, and my bright light. I always knew I wanted to have a beautiful life, I just didn’t know how beautiful it could be until I met you. I love you forever Kelsey. This is only the beginning 💚.”
Kelsey, for her part, shared a tribute to Joey in a separate upload the following day.
In the Instagram message, Kelsey shared that by the end of the show she “knew who [Joey] was at his core.” She added, “Maybe not how his first tooth fell out but I knew the kind of husband, father and friend he would be.”
“After fantasy suites, Dez (my producer & now friend) asked me what loving Joey felt like,” she recalled. “I said it feels like a perfect day, when the sun is out, the clouds are fluffy, when it’s not too cold or too hot and everything just feels right! Joey, loving you is effortless like a beautiful sunny day. I feel so thankful all for all of the crazy choices we both have made in life that lead us to each other. I love you so big, my sweet boy. Thank you for being my best friend above all. Now let’s go live our life! 😚.”
Their Living Arrangements
Joey and Kelsey revealed their living arrangements — which includes two other women — in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in New Orleans.
“He was just living with his sister, so I was like, ‘You can move in with me.’ I have a very big room, and my roommates were all in,” Kelsey recalled on a June 2024 episode of the “Trading Secrets” podcast. “They’re like, ‘We can’t wait to get to know Joey,’ and it’s kinda like a New Girl situation.”
Joey agreed, adding, “Yeah. I’m on a, like, comedy sketch right now. I feel like I’m full-on in a New Girl situation. There’s three girls and one Joey. I’m just, like, sitting there in the middle of the hallway.”
They both agreed the arrangement is a “strategic” move for the sake of their relationship. “And I knew that regardless of what was going to happen, my life was going to have to change and go somewhere else,” Joey said.
Plans for Having Kids
During a June 2024 appearance on the “Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour” podcast, Joey and Kelsey revealed they are on the same page about having kids.
“I think one of the first big things I told him was that I really wanted to adopt and that was a non-negotiable for me,” Kelsey recalled. “So, if he wasn’t open to that, then I couldn’t be here.”
“Happy One-Year Anniversary to My Everything … I still cannot believe that it has been a year since I got down on one knee and asked you to marry me,” Joey wrote via Instagram in November 2024. “This is another appreciation post for everything you do. The laughs, the love, the support, the joy and the excitement. Every day with you is an adventure and I cannot wait to see all of the memories we get to create in the years to come.”
Joey shared photos of Kelsey supporting him on Dancing With the Stars week after week in honor of their special day. “I know sitting and anxiously watching me dance on live TV probably wasn’t how you thought we’d spend our first anniversary, but I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate your support,” he continued. “I couldn’t do this without you, so thank you for always being my biggest fan through this amazing experience. I love you forever ❤️.”
Kelsey shared her own Instagram tribute to Joey in celebration of their first year together. “Happy anniversary to the man of my dreams,” she wrote. “A man who is patient, kind, and always gives 1000% in everything he does. I’m so grateful for your love, your support, and the way you make every day brighter.”
