Circa 2009, Nathan started going down to UW-Madison to ballroom dance with his older sister Bekah and brother-in-law Bill. Meanwhile, Alexandria recently decided she didn't want to switch to UW-Stevens Point and wanting to try something new ALSO started ballroom dancing! Sparks started flying even from that first dance and it was pretty obvious to everybody, even though it wasn't to Alexandria and Nathan for quite some time, that there was a fantastic partnership budding! After about two years of dancing, dinners, and parties, Alexandria made it PRETTY clear to Nathan she was ready for the real deal and we decided to have a go at it in January of 2011. Since then, 8 years have flown by with travelling home and abroad, holidays, moving twice, spending a year in different cities, getting a dog, and finally moving to Seattle and planning the wedding! We are so thankful how excited and supportive everybody has been along the way and with the wedding! We hope that everybody that comes has an amazing time sharing in our adventure and starting the next stage of our lives!

Have you ever had something to give to somebody, they know exactly what it is, they know exactly when they want to get it, but you have to make it a surprise without just lying straight to their face?? WELL.... We had wanted to take a trip to the Western part of the country for some time and decided to check out Washington state. Alexandria had her heart set on hiking the beautiful (and DIFFICULT) trail up to Colchuck Lake near the bavarian-style town of Leavenworth. That part of the trip was three days in, so Nathan was stuck hiding the engagement ring he had decided to bring along! The first day of our trip we spent in Seattle proper and hiked up the Queen Anne district to get to the overlook spot of Kerry Park. After taking a few photos of ourselves and the mountains, we went to a bench to sit down. It was there that Nathan got down on one knee aaaand just tied his shoes. After tying his shoes, he stayed like that for JUST too long (he was tired from hiking up the biggest hill in Seattle) and Alexandria thought he was popping the question! After apologizing for this mishap and explaining how bringing an engagement ring on a trip like this would be really hard (he was talking from experience), Nathan calmed Alexandria down and made it seem like proposing on a trip like this would just be really difficult logistically. Meanwhile, the ring was wrapped and packed in his backpack during the whole conversation. Two days later, engagement ring and nalgene bottles in tow, Nathan and Alexandria hiked the lake to Colchuck Lake. We met some new friends along the way, shared snacks and life stories, and somehow managed to get to the top! Fortunately, one of our new friends was an amateur photographer. Nathan let him know that whatever happens, just keep snapping photos. During the pics, Nathan got down on one knee (for real this time) and Alexandria really couldn't believe it was happening! Life and time has been good to us since, and things are only looking brighter!