Brad and Julie met online with the site Match.com. Julie actually messaged Brad after they matched, but Brad informed her that he was getting off Match because “it just wasn’t working”. However, he told her to friend him on Facebook. They went on their first date sometime in mid-October and have been inseparable ever since.

Brad and Julie were camping at Itasca State Park. They had spent the first day at the park hiking but quickly realized that Itasca is known for ticks. They spent the day pulling off hundreds of ticks. Julie went to bed that night pretty ticked off…no pun intended. During the middle of the night, around 4 am, Julie woke up the sound of Brad telling her to “shut that light off”. Julie awoke to the sight of the whole camper lit up in sparkling light. The light was from the ring box that contained a heart shaped engagement ring. Brad proposed and Julie accepted. Then they both went back to sleep pretty quickly to tackle a new day hiking together and looking forward to their future together.

Brad and Julie got married on 10/11/2024 with a simple ceremony at the Albert lea courthouse. Due to medical issues in the family, Brad and Julie decided to get married with an intimate wedding with just their parents and Brad’s daughter, Shyla in attendance. It was pretty secretive with only a few people knowing about the ceremony. The couple then took some photos at the fire station and at the state park after the ceremony. They finished off the night with a dinner with just Brad, Julie and Shyla in the same booth at the restaurant where they had their first date.