Celebrate Our Marriage!

In 2021, we met through the classic dating app Bumble (thanks Chelsea for setting up mine). Nick was moving to Oklahoma to teach at the University of Oklahoma. I had recently moved back to Oklahoma for a new job. We matched at the end of July and had our first date by the middle of August. Our first date almost didn't happen. Nick was five minutes late to our coffee shop date. I thought for the first time I was being stood up. Nick says it's because he was in a new town and claims it was only three minutes away. But I stayed and waited and glad I did. Our first date turned into a second date or an extended first date. We talked over coffee in the morning and lunch at a local BBQ restaurant in Norman. After that, we went on multiple dates each time our connection growing. We were "official" by October. Nick met my mom's side of the family that Thanksgiving. I met Nick's parents at Christmas. In May 2022, we moved in together. We knew we wanted to take the next step of loving each other forever the following May. On July 11, 2023, Nick asked me to marry him at the McCrory Gardens. Our love is consistent and comfortable. I'm the luckiest person to have found Nick; I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

I moved to Oklahoma in July 2021 to start a job teaching Math at the University of Oklahoma. Moving down to Norman with help from my dad and grandpa, I had my dating app profile ready to-go to meet some new people. Carmen and I matched within a couple hours of me being in Norman. We chatted for a couple weeks until living in Norman full time. We went on our first date on August 21st, which I was a minute or two late. What was supposed to be just a coffee date turned into a coffee/lunch date at a BBQ spot around the corner from the coffee shop. We became "official" a couple weeks later, and we've been growing together ever since. The first big test for us was Thanksgiving that year, when I met Carmen's parents and brother for the first time. (Along with a bunch of other extended family). I made the gravy for dinner, one of my better attempts, I do say so, and it helped me make a good impersion. Then Carmen came home to South Dakota with me over Christmas that year and met my parents and grandparents. They fell in love with her about as quickly as I did. This past summer, Carmen and I spent some time in South Dakota. On July 11th, I took Carmen to McCrory Gardens on the campus of South Dakota State University. While walking around, we stopped in the hedge-garden where I asked her to marry me. She said yes, thankfully. We called her parents and brother, then surprised my grandparents with the news when we met with them and my parents for dinner at Cubbys. I'm so excited to marry Carmen. A friend from South Dakota regularly says he is the luckiest guy on the planet because he found the love of his life in high school. It may have taken me a little longer to find the love of my life, but now I also have an argument for being the luckiest guy on the planet. I'm excited to celebrate our marriage with everyone and hope to see you soon! -Nick