It all began when Ely noticed Nikki at a student conference in 2012. Ely's first thought was "Who is this beautiful woman?" Although, the two didn't officially meet until a work training in ‘13. Ely, on staff with InterVarsity, was surprised when Nikki joined. As they began to know each other, Nikki noticed how much Ely loved Jesus. At that time, Nikki was dating someone, so she thought Ely would be a great friend for her boyfriend. Gotta love irony! When Ely found out about her boyfriend, he was annoyed and thought, “Dang! I finally got to meet Nikki, but she has to have a boyfriend.” Ely mourned in sackcloth and ashes. Fortunately, that relationship ended in ‘13. By 2016, the two became good friends by encouraging each other as colleagues over long drawn out conversations—mostly because Ely wanted to talk all the time. Once, he even called Nikki to ask simple work questions just to hear her voice! Albeit, he admits it was weird, maybe creepy, but he was smitten. In the Summer of ‘17, they had one of those long drawn out phone conversations about work and relationships— that convo was different from the previous ones. Nikki thought Ely was asking her survey questions about what Christian women want. Eventually, she no longer wanted to partake in the survey. She asked Ely if they could have a follow-up conversation the next day; he agreed. Ely, being shy, was determined to keep his guard up. Foolishly, he told Nikki that they were just friends and nothing else—he knew that he had feelings for her but was terrified of rejection. Well, Nikki's response was to put boundaries in place regarding Ely’s precious conversations. However, the last thing he wanted was his conversations "Heisman'ed" by Nikki; two weeks later, he took a step of faith. Instead of the “boundaries” conversation, Ely opened up and shared how he felt about Nikki. AND GUESS WHAT? He didn't get rejected! Now, a year and a half later, they are on their way to the altar and excited to celebrate with you!