05.30.26

We are so glad you are here and looking forward to sharing in the celebration of our love! We hope this can be a resource to you in helping to prepare and get excited for our wedding. You will find lots of helpful information here, as well as, lots of sweet tidbits about our story and photos. Check out the stories below to learn a little bit about where our relationship began.

Jessica's Prayer in June 2021 "Lord, send me a man grounded in Christ, kindhearted, patient, and clear with his intentions. Let him be a strong role model for my nephews, niece, and our future children, with a love for nature and adventure. A sweet man who wants a big family and he must LOVE Christmas." Eric's Prayer in July 2022 "Dear Lord, Please send me a brown hair, brown eyed, olive skinned, Godly woman."

In the summer of 2022, Eric and Jessica met for the first time. Eric was stationed at the Fort Riley Army Base just outside of Manhattan, KS where Jessica was about to start her last year of college at K-State. And because God works all things for good, even technology, Eric and Jess met on a dating app called Bumble. We will never know if it was Eric's witty bio or the cute black lab with him in his photo that caught her eye but they matched. And after about two weeks of talking and convincing Eric that Jessica wasn't a robot or a catfish, but indeed a real woman, they scheduled their first date. And on September 5th, 2022 Eric, after getting lost on the way there, walked up to Jessica's door with a bouquet of yellow sunflowers. (She would come to find out later, that he is a very smart man and checked out her Pinterest before hand.) This was a very good start to the evening. He was welcomed to the door by a house full of people, Jessica's roommates, Brittney and Jayda and their boyfriends, Hayden and Kris. But, Eric was brave, friendly and faced it well. He walked Jessica out to his truck, a perfect gentleman, opening doors and being very sweet. Eric had big plans for this date. He was going to take Jessica to one of the nicest restaurants in Manhattan. But when they got there, it was closed. So he moved onto his next idea, a nice steakhouse. However, it was also closed. It became apparent after that, that he forgot to account for the fact that it was Labor Day and most places were closed for the holiday. And so Eric looked at Jess and said, "you like tacos right?" After some of the most amazing tacos from a hole in the wall restaurant, Eric offered to continue the date. He remembered how much she loved coffee and he offered to take her to get some. She immediately agreed, especially after finding out he had never had a pumpkin spice latte before. Of course Eric loved his wonderful fall beverage and they began to drive around in his truck, chatting and sipping their drinks. They talked about many things: their jobs, their dreams, where they grew up, music, faith, and their intentions with dating. They talked for so long, that Brittney texted Jess to make sure she was okay and had not been kidnapped. In all their talking, they didn't realize they had almost reached the Kansas/Nebraska border! They turned around on a dirt road and he drove her home where he walked her to the door and gave her a hug goodbye. This was the beginning of their happily ever after.