We're getting married!

This may be to many people's surprise but, Reed and Nicole's first encounter dates back to 2007 at Western Michigan University! Two young college freshmen living in the dorms with many mutual friends. Reed quickly developed the hots for Nicole... but his pierced ears and cornrows did not win her over. From there he quickly fell into the friend zone and remained there as their friendship progressed. After freshman year, Reed transferred to Miami of Ohio, Nicole continued to put her stamp on WMU and they lost touch. The years go by and their paths come dangerously close to crossing many times, but were never able to reconnect. Reed runs into a mutual friend in Chicago and asks about Nicole after all of these years! Fast forward to February 2019 - Reed has migrated back to Michigan and gets word that Nicole is also back in Michigan and single. They finally reconnect in March of 2019, engaged in January of 2020, and the rest is history.

It was a brisk Arizona winter weekend when Reed and Nicole were visiting family in Phoenix. Reed was excited to finally receive his birthday gift of an ATV ride from October but more excited for what he had planned ahead. Nicole and Reed migrated north under the guise of lunch and a hike. They are both covered in dirt and ready for a relaxing afternoon; Little did they know it was going to be far from relaxing. They had a lovely lunch in Sedona full of margaritas and sunshine before heading to cathedral rock for their hike. The hike started off moderate but quickly turned into an advanced rock climb. Nicole pleaded multiple times to turn back as she was terrified of the steep ledges but Reed strongly encouraged her to tough it out. After an hour of strenuous mountain climbing and countless motivational speeches, they finally made it to the top. The sun was starting to set, the rocks were glowing, and the views were absolutely gorgeous. We wanted to capture the moment and have proof of the horrible hike up.. so we found some European hikers to take our picture. Little did Nicole know, they were not European hikers at all, they were hired photographers to capture one of the best moments of our lives. Reed and Nicole walked over to the edge of the cliff ready for a quick photo shoot. The photographer ask them to turn away with their hands up, which was the que. The photographers pull out their gear, Reed dropped to a knee, and Nicole started shaking and crying, screaming "Oh My God, whatttt, Oh My God". She wasn't able to form a sentence or even look at the ring for the first 15 minutes. Eventually the ring made it onto her finger and they were officially engaged!!! After a 30 minute photo shoot, Nicole bounded down the mountain as if it was a walk down the street. Full of happiness and love, Nicole and Reed drove back to Phoenix to meet up with the Oesterles for dinner. We celebrated all night full of excitement and ready for the journey ahead!