We first met, as adults, when Ali's parents invited Travis and I to a BBQ when I first moved to Denver in July 2016. Our Dad's grew up together in Sibley, Iowa before attending college together. When we were young, our families had a couple of encounters, but we didn't really get to know each other. At this BBQ, I was hoping Ali would be interested in hanging out in the future, but it would be a couple months before that would happen. Ali invited me to several (last minute) events, but I kept declining (work, ugh). Eventually, there was a TopGolf birthday party. It was a Friday night and located right next to my work - no way I could not go to this one. The next day, I asked Ali out on what I thought was a first date to Angelo's Taverna. When I came to pick Ali up, she warned me not to come to the door and she would just come out to my car. At Angelo's, I decided it would be best to order 2 large pizzas, even though I was going out of town soon. Ali took 1 1/2 pizzas home with her that night and her parents started asking questions. I didn't find out until several days later that Ali never told her parents she was going out with me that night. I had told my whole family. 30 months later, and after several trips back to Angelo's, I took Ali back to the scene of our first date and proposed in the parking lot after a nerve wracking dinner. There were some onlookers, some planned and some not. During those 30 months, we experienced a lot together and fell in love fast. Near the beginning of our relationship, we had a weekend I will never forget. Ali took me to my first Avalanche game on Friday, an ugly sweater party on Saturday and my first Broncos game (against my beloved Tom Brady) on Sunday night. We knew from the start we wanted to be together. We've had trips to Iowa together, ski weekends, a memorable vacation in San Diego, and much more! We can't wait to start the next chapter of our relationship together and share our wedding weekend with you all!

I'll start our story with the TopGolf night. I invited Nick to a friend's birthday party, thinking he would like to meet some new people since he had just moved here. He denied all of my other invites in the months leading up to this night because I invited him too "last minute." I'm pretty sure this invite was also the night before, but he somehow made it work. Of course, Nick got there before me since I'm always late. He was already chatting with the crew and seemed to fit right in. We all bonded over a lot of Blue Moon pitchers and Gin & Tonics that night. I was secretly hoping for a text the whole next day. It took until about 6pm to hear from him, but Nick finally invited me out to dinner for the following night. I was living at home at the time and was not going to admit what I was doing. Our dad's grew up together and I didn't want my parent's asking questions. I specifically told Nick not to come to the door so that I could leave without making a scene. I came back with a ton of leftover pizza that night, but still wouldn't share where it came from. Nick went out of town shortly after this night and we continued talking. He even called me each day, which was a little strange because I'm not much into talking on the phone. Once he got back, my parents had found out who I was talking to for the past week and the secret was out. Apparently, Nick assumed we were dating since that first night we went to dinner, but didn't share this with me until like three months later when he finally called me his "girlfriend." After 30 great months, Nick proposed where we had our first date. He rushed me through dinner and then made us wait in a long line to buy a growler of wine as a keepsake, all while Trav and Abby snuck around the parking lot to catch the moment. It was a perfect night and now I can't believe that our wedding is almost here! We can't wait to celebrate with all of our family and friends as we move into this exciting next chapter.