We’re Getting Married!

Austin and I met sophomore year of college at St. Ambrose University! At the end of my freshman year I needed to look for a new roommate for next year. Randomly, one of my biology classmates (Haley), who was also a nursing major asked if I wanted to room with her for our sophomore year. We had only had one semester of biology together, but she seemed nice and she played a sport too, so I said “what the heck,” and decided to room with her for the upcoming year! Rooming with Haley was by far the best decision of my life! The first day of our sophomore year after we were all moved into our new room, Haley asked me if it was okay if her two guy friends stopped by the room to say “Hey!.” This was totally fine with me and that’s when I first laid eyes on Austin! The group of us started hanging out, getting to know each other, and even went on a hiking trip together! Austin’s handsome looks and charming personality were quite hard to resist. I was good at the beginning, keeping him on the friend level as I didn’t want to disrupt the dynamic of the friend group but I was no match for Austin’s flirtatious and charming ways and by September he had asked to take me out on a date and by November we were officially dating and I guess you can say the rest is history!! I love our story and I am forever grateful that my decision to room with Haley, not only left me with a lifelong partner but also a group of lifelong friends!

On Christmas morning 2023, we woke up super early to go over to Kevin & Erin’s house which is a yearly tradition and one we have always just worn pajamas to, so I found it odd that this particular Christmas Austin was wearing jeans. This was my first clue that something was up. I remember questioning him as to why he was wearing jeans and if I needed to dress nice for some reason unbeknownst to me? Austin’s response was “No, these jeans are just comfy.” It was like six something in the morning, I was tired, and Austin had just recently started wearing jeans again and when Austin likes something, he’s all in, so I didn’t think another thing about it. I put on my comfy pants and my grandmas hand me down Christmas sweatshirt and we left for the Pajda’s! Everything about Christmas morning went as usual, the girls opened their gifts from Santa first, then we passed out our gifts to each other next and then usually we all just hang out after but this year however, Austin had texted the family group chat back in November, asking us all if we would like to participate in a gift giving game. The game was, you pair up with someone, you get a small/cheap gift, put it in a bag and then on Christmas we each take turns being blindfolded and having to guess what the gift we are being given is! So after all the main gifts were opened we decided to start the game! This is the second part of the story where I should’ve known something was up because Austin and Sue started getting pushy with everyone to come start this game! The girls were excited about their Stanley cups they both got so Kevin and the girls were in the kitchen washing them so they could use them! Sue was hollering at them to hurry up, Austin’s hollering at me to go first, and I was so confused why they were making such a big fuss over this game!! It was just a silly game, or so I thought! I told Austin, I didn’t want to go first, that the girls should go, and against his wishes, the girls went first! After they were done, Austin and I were next up! I still was not ready so I persuaded Austin to go first! I gave Austin his two honeybuns to try and guess and after a while of him guessing incorrectly, I finally had him remove his blindfold to see what his gift was! Now, I would just like to add, we were told the gifts were to be small and CHEAP! So, next up was me and Austin quickly sat me down in the chair, blindfolded me and handed me a gift bag. I stuck my hand in the bag, felt a soft, squishy, item and started thinking it felt like it was in the shape of a ring. I pulled it out of the bag to get a better feel. When I felt it with both hands and was for sure it was a stuffed ring, I did not want to take my blindfold off. Now, you’re probably thinking, “ohh how sweet, she didn’t want to take the blindfold off because she was getting emotional.” Nope, that’s where you’re wrong, I didn’t want to take my blindfold off because this could go one of two ways: One, I take my blindfold off and see Austin on his knee with a real ring and realize this was all just a ploy to throw me off from thinking he had a real one, Or two, I take my blindfold off, Austin is standing up and pulling off the world’s meanest prank on me in front of his family. So I take a moment, gather some courage, say aloud that I think the gift is a ring, and take my blindfold off ….. and see Austin still standing… but quickly he takes out the real ring, gets on his knee, and asks me to marry him! He sent me through all the emotions but I was so over the moon when I realized it was for real!! I think one of the funniest parts to the story is that I got a pretty, shiny, expensive ring and Austin got two honeybuns! Seems like a fair trade! It’s a fun story to look back on and tell people and I love that Austin asked me to marry him on his favorite holiday!

First off, we want you all to know that our decision to elope was not one that was made lightly! We would love for all our family and friends to be with us on such a momentous occasion but with us recently purchasing our first home this last year, eloping was the best option for us financially. However, it was more than just the best option financially, it was also the option that was the most personally fitting for us as a couple! We have talked a lot about wanting to travel more together and we’ve been engaged for over a year now so we thought, why not just travel to get married!? Ever since we came to this conclusion, we’ve never looked back! I was researching places to elope and happened upon Glacier National Park! I showed Austin some pictures of the park and it took little convincing him that this was the place we should go! We leave August 6th, say “I do” on August 8th, and return home August 11th, newly married! We know that this isn’t the most conventional way to get married but if you know us, you know this fits, and we can’t thank you enough for all the love and support you all have shown us! With love, The Future Prices