Hello to all our loved ones, Like you, we remained hopeful that coronavirus cases would go down and we wouldn't still be feeling the effects into fall and winter. But that's not the case. As much as we'd love to celebrate our marriage with you, we're pretty big into hugging, dancing and ya know - breathing without worry. We've decided to cancel our reception for now. The good news: As long as we are healthy on New Year's Eve, there WILL be a wedding ceremony! We still plan to get married at New Covenant Community Church in Lincoln on December 31, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. We ask that guests follow the local Directed Health Measure and wear a mask for the duration of the wedding. We will be offering a live stream option, so if you'd feel more comfortable watching from home, please RSVP 'NO' on your digital invite. Guests will be spaced out between households so please update your RSVP so we can get a count to better protect people inside the church. LIVESTREAM LINK: https://vimeo.com/494238308/d6007aa2f7 The ceremony livestream will begin with a slideshow at 5:15 p.m. - 15 minutes before the start of our ceremony. After the ceremony, the bride and groom will be sneaking away! We're wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season. xoxo, Darrin & Amber

After messaging for a couple weeks online (Bumble), Darrin asked me out to dinner. We met at The Oven, an Indian restaurant in downtown Lincoln. He was charming, chivalrous and just a little mysterious. He wowed me with some magic tricks and earned some after-dinner drinks at Starlite Lounge. But it was the next few months that stuck out to me more. I quickly realized that this "nice guy" that I met was no Average Joe. When he climbed on my roof a couple dates later to take my Christmas lights down I knew I had found someone special. And after 4 months of dating it was me that said 'I love you' first.

I had told myself I didn't want to do the online dating scene, but I fell for the trap and am now thankful for it. It was sometime in November when I swiped right using the Bumble dating app on a hot blonde babe with a sassy profile describing herself. On Bumble, the female has to make contact with the male. It was December 19, 2017 when I matched with that hot blonde and she messaged me right away. Amber and I messaged for 11 days before I got the courage to ask her out on a date. Our first date was at The Oven (Indian Cuisine) on one of the coldest days in 2017. Amber was everything she said she was on her Bumble profile. With Amber being in the News career field she was full of questions and made the date fun. After the first date I was very impressed and was hoping I would qualify for a second date. With Amber's busy schedule it was a challenge to find time but we were able to sneak in a breakfast date a week later. One of the many attributes I adored about Amber was her spunky happiness. After we went on several dates I finally got the courage to ask her to be my girlfriend. On February 14th, I asked her to be my girlfriend. However, she wouldn't give me an immediate answer but by the time I left her house she said we could make it "official" and the rest is history.

It's Thanksgiving morning in the booming town of Thurston, NE - population 130 but 200+ gather every year for the Thurston Turkey Trot. I'm helping organize the race my late mother, Carol Smith, co-founded 11 years ago with Sonya Kelly. While I'm rocking the mic by the finish line as the emcee, Darrin is running the 5K. I start to get a little worried as I see the timer approach 30 minutes. "Wow, Darrin is running pretty slowly, I hope he's okay..." thoughts enter my head. Turns out his slow pace is a result of him calling my sister during the last mile to get her blessing to marry me. After 4 tries, she finally answers and Darrin slowly gets his question out. Now I see him, he's running down the stretch! "He's still going so slow" I think. "All the way through!" I yell. Darrin trots over, drops down and says 'I found this on the course'. I don't even get the "Of course I'll marry you" out of my mouth when I see his whole family appear out of nowhere. The double shock wears off and I said YES!