Matt had just relocated to Wilmington, three weeks prior, to work on storm relief after Hurricane Florence, for what he thought would be only six months in Wilmington. Nicolette was back home in Wilmington from Charlotte for the past week and a half staying in the hospital with her youngest sister who was discharged the night before. Nicolette’s dad, who is also one of her closest friends, insisted they needed a night out to have fun after a stressful couple of weeks, so they were at Brasserie and Grand Cru in Lumina Station. Later that night, she went with her middle sister Claudia to the beach bars. When Nicolette decided to call it a night and was outside waiting for her Uber, this cute fellow named Mathew goes up to her and introduces himself. He then asks if she would like to talk. While completely skeptical of why this guy wanted to chat, she was intrigued and felt drawn to talking further. So there they are, sitting on a cement parking block next to King Neptune’s, talking for two and a half hours. Not a thought of going back into a bar crossed either of their minds the rest of the evening because all they wanted to do was sit together and talk. He tried giving her his number at the end of the night but she insisted he take hers and if he wanted to see her again, he could call her. Well, sure enough, the next day he was very eager to talk to her and she spent the entire rest of the weekend with him. Talk about being at the right place at the right time!

The proposal happened in Denmark, where Nicolette’s family is from, while visiting for Danish Christmas Lunch. They were taking a day trip to Nicolette’s dad's hometown, Nyborg. Carsten thought it would be fun to rent a party bus and decided on an old 1960's police bus turned party bus! (The bus was called Dolly Parton because she’s very old and has had a lot of work done!) Months before the proposal, Nicolette jokingly told Matt if he proposed on the hippie bus, the answer would be no! On the bus was Matt & Nicolette, Carsten & Ingrid, Uncle Michael & Manita, and our friends Denis & Kayla. Normally, Nicolette would DJ the music but the plug only worked on Matt’s phone, so he played the music. Between the bus bouncing and recovering from a late night, Nicolette was not feeling so good in the beginning. Either way, everyone was having fun and drinks were flowing. Halfway through, there was a gas station pitstop. Matt told Nicolette he had to go to the bathroom and he was sweating like crazy, so she worried he was also not feeling well. Once getting back on the bus, both are relieved to feel a lot better! About 20 minutes in, Matt plays their song and they are singing together and being their goofy selves. Nicolette leans over to her mom and friends to tell them how this is going to be the first dance song. Little does she know while having these conversations, Matt asked Carsten & Ingrid to hand him the ring. Matt asks for everyone's attention and for her to stand with him. He is then down on one knee popping the question! Nicolette was completely caught off guard, which never happens, and of course responded "a million times yes"! Luckily there is a video where the proposal can faintly be heard because both were in such a state of euphoria, they had no idea what was said! Once arriving at Hotel Hesselet, they took pictures on the dock before a lovely dinner hosted by Nicolette's parents with more friends that live in Denmark!