Welcome to our wedding website! We can't wait to celebrate our special day with our family and friends. We created this website as a convenient and interactive way to share all of the important details with you in the lead up to our wedding. You can read more about how Blake proposed, get to know our awesome bridal party, and check out our registry information. If you are coming from out of town, make sure to head to our Travel and Things to Do portion of the site! Finally - thank you all for your ongoing love and support. We are so excited to share this day with you and look forward to dancing the night away with all our favorite people from near and far!

I always told Blake that he would have a hard time surprising me when he wanted to propose.  I didn't mean this in a malicious way, but I am just a very intuitive person. He had never even gotten me a gift without me finding out about it beforehand (either because I convinced him to spill the beans or he told someone who spilled the beans to me).  I told him that I would notice little changes in his demeanor, schedule, or something of the like and would definitely notice if something is just a tad off. Blake was bound and determined to prove me wrong. To back up a little bit, I had an idea that a proposal was coming in the near future.  We went ring shopping together and talked about when we wanted to be married, so there was a span of a couple months that I knew I should be on my toes.   To give some context - My older sister, Kylie, had texted my younger sister, my mom and me a couple weeks prior to the engagement, saying that she would be home from graduate school on Friday, September 21 because she set up a tasting with her caterer for that day & she wanted us all to join.  Kylie was also engaged at the time, so the trips home for wedding planning was normal. At the time, I had Fridays off of work, so I didn't think much of it.  Kylie texted us the week prior to the engagement, saying that the tasting was at 11:00 am about an hour away from our house so Kylie, Cambrie, my mom and I would leave at 9:15 am to get coffee at a cute little coffee shop and catch up before going to the tasting.  I found it a bit off that we were planning a coffee date so far in advance, but that also could be because I was searching so intentionally for inconsistencies.

Monday - The week of the engagement came and my suspicions began to rise.  Cambrie texted me saying that we should get our nails done sometime that week.  This was a red flag because I knew Cambrie had gotten her nails done the previous week.  So, being the obstinate brat that I am, I wanted to make them all squirm a little bit. So I told her that I didn't want to spend the money to get my nails done.  I ended up going to the nail salon with her, though, because of her bribery efforts ("I will only bring you food if you get your nails done with me"). Cambrie also told me that we should clean the bathroom before Kylie comes home on Thursday night.  This was suspicious to me because Kylie lived with us for a long time, so she knows that we are all messy. Suspicion level: Very High.

Tuesday - I went to work on Tuesday and told some female coworkers that I thought Blake was coming out to surprise me this weekend, which is why Cambrie told me to get my nails done and why the house had to be clean.  These are the little details that I said I would notice! I also told Blake (whoops) that I am on to him and his tactics, saying that he wasn't doing a good job of being sneaky and discrete. He acted like he had no idea what I was talking about, but I'm guessing that he was on edge when I mentioned that.   He was on the coaching staff for his college's football program at the time and they had an away game on that Saturday, so he told me that my hopes would be disappointed because he had to travel with the team.  He said that he had tried to get out of going to the game, but they wouldn't let him skip.  He also said that he hadn't even bought a ring or talked to my dad yet, so I should get that idea out of my head. Both of those things made sense. Suspicion Level: Still pretty high, but lowered a bit.

Thursday - Thursday night comes and we continue our regular routine of texting at night and FaceTiming before I went to bed.  I went to bed around 10:30 pm and I FaceTimed with him until then. I noticed that he was still in his apartment nine hours away.  That's when all of my suspicions crumbled.  He had been finished with his Thursday classes in the morning and I didn’t have to work on Fridays, so he would already be on his way if he was coming.  But instead, on Thursday night, he was still in his room and hanging out with his roommates.  I actually remember getting a little annoyed with him, saying that this would be the perfect weekend for him to come visit since my whole family would be around and my weekend was pretty free.  My intuition must not be as great as I originally thought. Suspicion Level: All-time Low

Friday (engagement day!) - Friday morning comes.  My body naturally woke me up pretty early. I went into my mom's room to see if she was awake; she was not in there.  I went downstairs; she was not there either. I texted her asking where she was.  She said that Gabe (my brother) forgot his lunch and she brought it to him (RED FLAG 1).  Okay, I didn't think anything of it.  Blake usually has class on Friday morning at 9:00, so he texted me at 8:00 that he had just woken up, as per usual.  All of my suspicions were crushed at this point because nothing was out of routine at all. My mom, Kylie, Cambrie and I leave for the coffee shop and Cambrie says that she wanted to drive her car (RED FLAG 2).  This was odd because I usually drive my family everywhere (I'm a control freak, I know) and Cambrie never wants to waste her own gas.  Okay, I didn't think anything of it. We got to the coffee shop and get breakfast and beverages. We sit, eat, and chat for a while. Then Kylie says that we should get going to the tasting.   We walk back to the car and Cambrie tells us that she has to drop off a Cub's jersey to her friend because we would be driving past her house (RED FLAG 3).  Looking back, we drove the complete opposite way of where the tasting was going to take place, but I literally didn't think anything of it.  I get in the front seat of Cambrie's car and she begins driving to her "friend's house." We get to a four-way stop and Cambrie turns right, then proceeds to tell us that she should have gone straight so she is going to turn around in the fairgrounds parking lot (RED FLAG 4).  Please note that I did not pick up on any of these red flags until much later. 

She pulls into the fairgrounds and I start messing with the radio, trying to find a way to turn the volume up.  While I'm looking down at the radio, the car comes to a stop.  I look at everyone in the car, still so confused as to why we stopped.  (For being an intuitive person, I was pretty dumb on this day). My mom is giving me a little smirk that I knew all too well.  I look out the window and Blake is standing on the fishing dock, surrounded by decorations and pictures of us. I knew that I had been completely bamboozled.  I got out of the car and yelled some joking profanities at him. We walk onto the fishing dock and he gives me some speech (that I don't think I even heard) and gets down on one knee, presenting me with the most beautiful, sparkly ring I had ever seen.  I look over at the car and Kylie is taking pictures of the whole thing. It turns out that EVERYONE knew this was happening.  Blake left on Thursday right after the FaceTime call and drove through the night, making sure to text me at the time that he would have if he were at school.  Kylie did not actually have a wedding tasting, she skipped class to be home for the proposal. Cambrie did not actually have to drive and drop a shirt off with her friend, that was just a way to get to the fairgrounds and prevent me from driving.  My dad had a "meeting" at work and took my car to work so I had no way of offering to drive.  My mom did not bring Gabe his lunch, but went to the fairgrounds to help set up the whole scene. The girls at work that I shared my suspicions with even knew about it because Blake called my boss to ask if I could be off of work on Saturday.  Everything was planned to a T. I was definitely surprised and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  August 17 can't come soon enough.

My side of the proposal was a lot less dramatic than Kenzie’s, as I knew what was going on. It started about a month earlier than the actual engagement day. Kenzie’s parents were in Sioux Center and we made dinner arrangements. I have no idea if they knew it was coming, but didn’t seem very surprised when I asked them if I could marry their daughter. It was a very special moment, but with how nervous I was, I am extremely glad to never have to ask that question again LOL. I told them roughly when I thought I’d be coming to propose and we left it at that. About a week later, I called Kenzie’s younger sister Cambrie to ask for help. I am not a boring person at all, yet I am terrible at being creative and thinking of fun ideas. Cambrie made it her mission to find a pretty place and decorate it to make this as special as possible. I can’t thank her enough for taking care of this while I was nine hours away. She found a beautiful little pond with a nice dock on it and said she would decorate the morning of the proposal. All the while, I had gone to the ring store in town to look at rings. I remember Kenzie’s very few requirements for the ring and found one that I knew she would love. After I talked to Kenzie’s parents, I went to the store and ordered the ring.

The only potential issue that was to be faced was the fact that I had to convince my defensive coordinator to let me miss a game. We played Hastings College that weekend and it was to be an overnight trip as Hastings is almost five hours away. I went into coach’s office and told him my plan and if it would be at all possible for me to not go. He looked at me and told me he’d be pissed at me if I didn’t skip the game. He told me this is one of those things that outweighs football and that he gladly wouldn’t be seeing me that weekend. I thanked him and all the sudden everything was set. For me, the night before the engagement was not fun. I left Sioux Center around 11 o'clock on the night of the twentieth and proceeded to drive through the night. Let me tell you it was a LONG night. I was literally running on red bull and coffee. It went slow because I was nervous and anxious. It was the only thing on my mind for the entire trip. I was smart enough to not leave until Kenzie went to bed and to text her when she thought I’d be heading to class. I had her fooled that I was needed in Hastings, as she was trying to be funny and detect my moves. I finally arrived at the spot of the proposal and there was a gas station across the road. I changed from my travel clothes into some nicer looking clothes, fixed my hair, and brushed my teeth. I was ready to go. I went to grab the ring from my bag and realized I had forgotten it in Iowa….just kidding. I waited an hour in the car and then went and sat on the dock, waiting. I got a text that they were coming and saw the car pull up and stop. Kenzie saw me and was extremely happy, even if she pretended to be mad at me ;). She walked over and I said some nice things, got down on a knee, and proposed. This was easily the most nerve racking thing I have ever done, but by far the best thing I have done in my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.