*UPDATE* The Lancaster County Health Department has implemented a new mask mandate due to the surge of COVID cases in the county. As far as we are aware, masks will only be required at indoor events and gatherings. As such, we are asking that you wear a mask to our reception if you plan on attending. We will have extra disposable masks on-hand for anybody who needs one. We understand this may be an inconvenience, but ask you to please follow the mandate so the reception can run as smooth as possible. We promise that even with masks, we will have a great time. We look forward to seeing you all on the 24th!

We met at The Office, but we're not referring to your typical work office. Not at all. No, we met at The Office Bar in St. Paul, Nebraska, on a numbingly cold January day most of us Nebraskans have become accustomed to. But that isn't the whole truth. If we're being completely honest, we first connected through the infamous dating app Tinder. We talked on the app for almost a whole month before meeting up for the first time. As anybody who knows us would expect, we were very awkward at first. We were lucky to have some mutual friends at the table to help us really open up, but it didn't take long for us to click. After about ten minutes together, we basically stopped talking to everybody else at the table because we became so invested in our conversations with each other. In fact, we were still having a great time chatting away when the bar closed down at 1:00am. Lucky for us, a friend of ours was having some people over that night and invited us to join them. Well, of course we couldn't turn down the opportunity to get to know each other a little better. So, we headed over to our friend's place and spent another few hours talking about everything under the sun. Soon enough, it was time to head home. We left our friends and went to bed for the night, but not before we shared our first kiss in the freezing cold (we're talking wind chill below -20°F). We still talk about how cold it was on that night to this day. From that night on, we were inseparable. We spent as much time as we possibly could together, which was tough living about 2 hours apart. But we always found a way to visit each other on the weekends. Let's be honest though, we texted ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. Yes, one of us even had our phone taken away in college because they couldn't stop texting in class. We never knew that messaging on the app could turn into what it has. We both agree that downloading that app is one of the best decisions we ever made--that and swiping right when we first saw each other😁.

Our engagement was a little more exciting than how we first met, at least this is most likely true for outsiders looking in. That's probably because it happened at 14,115 feet of elevation. Yes, for those of you who don't know, we got engaged at Pikes Peak in Colorado. We were actually down in Colorado to celebrate Bri's 25th birthday. Anyway, we knew all along we were headed up to Pike's Peak to check out the views. Bri loved the mountains, and that was part of the reason Riley knew he had to propose there. It was the right time and the right place! Driving up the mountain was stressful enough, but Riley admits there was some added pressure knowing he would have to propose at the top of it. Since we went on this trip alone, we didn't have anybody prepared to take pictures when Riley proposed. We actually stood there for 20 minutes trying to find a good spot to take a picture. Bri even admits she was getting annoyed and was about to just give up on taking pictures altogether. She said Riley was being too picky. Well, lucky for us we found a spot to take a picture. And even better, we found a random person to take the pictures (which turned out to be amazing. We don't know who the lady was, but we will always remember her as a lifesaver). About halfway through the countdown, Riley dropped down to a knee and pulled out the ring, one Bri had gushed about only a few months prior. Bri literally lost her breath, almost losing her balance because she was so surprised. The elevation probably didn't help. After standing there silently for almost 5 seconds, Riley reminded Bri, "You're supposed to say yes or no." Through teary eyes and a wide smile, Bri said yes. We both concede that the ride back down the mountain was a lot happier and a lot less stressful than the drive up. Probably because Riley followed Beyonce's advice: If you like it you should have put a ring on it. Riley liked it, and he did indeed put a ring on it (but not until Bri finally said yes).