Jen and Colten met living in La Crosse, Wis., and were friends for years before they started dating. They would get together for lunch, dinner, movies and drinks — particularly the Tuesday night wristband specials at Brothers in La Crosse — all the while pretending they weren’t dates. They, mostly Colten, gave up the charade in January 2018 and started dating. Jen would help Colten take photos and videos of sporting events he covered for the La Crosse Tribune, and it was at one of those events that Colten first called Jen his girlfriend. They would travel across the state for Colten’s work covering games and tournaments, and spend whatever time they could together with Colten’s second-shift work schedule. One of his off days per week was spent at Jen’s mother Linda’s house so Colten could mooch off her and do his laundry. That year, Colten had four pairs of friends get married, and those weddings were some of the most fun nights they had together. It was at one of those weddings where Colten first said, “I love you.” Jen actually said it first before that wedding, but that doesn’t make as good of a story. In February 2019 — on one of the coldest days of the year — they moved into an apartment together in Onalaska, Wis. That meant Colten somehow, someway had to accept living with Jen’s cats. He’s still working on that. They lived there for a little over six months before Colten got his current job, which necessitated a move to Madison, where they both live and work now.

Colten moved to Madison first as Jen stayed in Onalaska to get their apartment subleased and to find a job in Madison. That process took about a month, and Colten used that time to find an engagement ring for Jen. Jen moved to Madison in mid-October, just a week before the Wisconsin Badgers played at Illinois. The game fell on Colten’s birthday, so his parents, Mark and Terrie, went to the game to see him and Terrie’s father, Frank. Mark and Terrie brought Jen to the game as well. Colten, in his infinite wisdom, figured there wouldn’t be a better time to propose — she couldn’t say no on his birthday, right? After the game — an upset loss for the Badgers which made for a wild afternoon of work for Colten and bummed Jen out — they went out to dinner with Colten’s family in Champaign. Jen had one too many at the football game, so when Colten got back together with her and his family he wasn’t sure if the ring was going to make it out of his pocket. He spent too much damn money on the thing and wanted to make sure she remembered when she first saw it. After the meal at Baxter’s American Grille, Colten figured Jen was ready for the big question. As the group walked to the door, Colten stopped them all in the bar area, dropped to a knee, and asked a shocked Jen to marry him. Jen claimed for months that she wasn’t going to cry when he proposed — wrong. She immediately burst into tears, so much so that as the patrons in the bar realized what was happening and started to clap, Colten had to put his hand up and say, “Hold on, she hasn’t answered yet.” She got out a, “Yes,” before continuing to cry.