we're getting married!

We officially met at a classic Santamaria house party, where we ended the evening sitting next to each other in the car on our way to Joe's Pizza on Rantoul St. with a few friends. We made some small talk about music and whether he listened to Country 102.5 or the Bull (that is when he isn't listening to sports talk radio, which lets face it, is really only when I'm in the car). Our wedding officiant, Marty, was part of this venture to Rantoul St. and will probably crack some jokes about this pizza trip, lol. Side note - It was really lucky that we both ended up at this party. I sat in the driveway for ten minutes before I finally overcame some anxiety about being literally the most socially awkward person on the planet and made my way in. Mark went for the first time in a while on the small chance that someone special might be there....he may have had a small crush on me before we officially met...shhh don't tell him that I put that on the site! Over the next week, we shared a few laughs and conversations on the stretching mats at the YMCA (laughing builds more abs than crunches, right?). And not even a full week after the party, Mark slipped into my Facebook DM's with the true key to my heart...an invitation to get ice cream. Many ice cream trips later and here we are!

This night is one for the books. One we will never forget, for more reasons than one! Mark, the hopeless romantic that he is, included everyone and everything that I love in this very special day. The night started with Mark and I joining my brother Sean, and his girlfriend (and my bridesmaid!!) Taylor for dinner in Salem. We went to Bambolina for some Italian style 'Zaaa. I took my sweet time enjoying the last of my crust while they all anxiously waited for the check. Little did I know that I was holding up the schedule of events! We finished dinner and Sean and Taylor went their own way to pick up their dogs before meeting us later that night at my mom's (as far as I knew!). Mark and I went for a nice walk over to our FAVORITE place in Salem, Goodnight Fatty. We got there and Mark slyly picked up his pre-arranged order. We grabbed the boxes of cookies and decided to go for a little walk in the Salem Commons before going back to our car. Mark led me to the Gazebo (which we frequent, so I didn't think anything of it) and it was covered in rose pedals! I still had NO clue and literally shouted "This is SO romantic! We should get MARRIED here!" Little did I know that Sean and Taylor were hiding behind the gazebo with my brother in-law, Jimmy, who was taking photos of the whole thing. Mark told me to open the cookie box. The inside flap had beautiful scripture that read "Nicole, I have a question for you." and next thing I knew, Mark was on one knee! We finished the night at my mom's with a small gathering of close family to celebrate the occasion :-) Truly one of the best nights of my life! Disclosure... little did we know, our engagement also happened to be a COVID-19 spreader event, as my brother who joined us for dinner didn't know yet that he had been exposed. Many of us got COVID-19 that weekend, which was the last weekend before the entire state shut down! Woah! Talk about timing. P.S. everyone is OK!