Our Story
 
Anna had always planned on going to dental school at her alma mater, Texas A&M University (whoop!), but was encouraged by a mentor to apply to a private school in Glendale, Arizona. She visited Arizona with her mom and absolutely fell in love with it after seeing the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Horseshoe Bend. In December of 2021, dental school acceptances were released, Anna had a choice to stay in Texas, but having grown up there her entire life, she was looking for a new experience. After a LOT of prayer and consideration, Anna moved to Arizona in August of 2022 and it just felt right.

 
Nick grew up in DuPont, WA but moved to Arizona in 2018 to attend undergraduate at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. Nick has dreamt of being a dentist since high school and consistently worked towards that goal. When the time came to apply for dental school, he wanted to stay in Arizona because he enjoyed his undergraduate experience there. It also was such a huge difference growing up in a place with rain in the forecast for 90% of the year and then moving to a place with 300 days of sunshine a year!

 
Dental school began in August of 2022 with an orientation week, and this is where Nick and Anna met for the very first time. The upperclassmen hosted a welcome party during orientation week in someone’s backyard. Both Nick and Anna went to the party with a couple of friends they’d met during orientation but still hadn’t met each other. Until. Nick walked up to Anna standing with a group of friends and introduced himself, asked for her number, and told a corny joke or two. When Anna left the party with her friends, one of them turned to her and said “Remember that guy that came up to you? Y’all look good together”.

 
A few days later, the first day of D1 year ensued and boys were the last thing on Anna’s mind. People equate the first year of dental school to drinking out of a fire hydrant because there’s just so much information thrown at you! Nick however was on a mission to get Anna’s attention. He started asking her to hang out or study together and showing up at all of her intramural volleyball games, often times he’d be the only person there to watch. He finally pulled her away from studying one night and convinced her to go to a movie night with him and few friends. Anna gave in and now realizes that was the best decision she’d made!

 
After that movie night, Anna was smitten and wanted to get to know him better, so she invited him to study one Saturday afternoon. They went to a coffee shop and probably got through one lecture in 6 hours because they were so distracted by each other. They talked and got to know each other until the coffee shop closed and were forced to go somewhere else. They didn’t want to say goodbye yet, so Anna offered to cook her mom’s famous spaghetti for dinner. After that meal, Nick knew he was in trouble. They were pretty much inseparable after that day and officially started dating on October 29th of 2022.

 
The beginnings of their relationship mostly consisted of studying, cooking, Nick taste-testing Anna’s baking, and going on dates together! One of the most memorable ones was Anna telling Nick to set an alarm and be ready at 3 am for her to come pick him up but wouldn’t tell him why. Being a good sport, Nick agreed and went right back to sleep in the car. Anna drove Nick 3 hours north to the Grand Canyon to watch the sunrise together because she’d found out that Nick had been in AZ for 5 years, but still had never visited the Grand Canyon.

 
Nick and Anna then spent holidays together, met each other’s families, and quickly realized that this was a forever kind of love. Dental school is grueling, but having each made it so much more enjoyable, even if was a little distracting at times :)

 
Fast-forward to 2024, Nick began to scheme his secret plan to propose. The initial plan was to propose in Banff National Park in August. However, Anna’s nosiness started to catch on. Nick knew he had to change his plans to keep the surprise going. He talked to Anna’s mom who came to visit for her birthday In June. Anna’s mom agreed that Anna had drawn suspicion, and another plan was made to propose on the 4th of July!

 
The new plan began to form with the help of Anna’s mom and friends. Nick had spent some time planning and discovered the perfect proposal site. The day started with meeting their friends in Sedona, AZ to explore a little town with local art stores. Afterwards, Nick planned a lunch at a beautiful resort which was also the setting for the proposal. Before lunch started, Nick adventured through the resort to find the perfect spot to propose. They then met up to eat lunch with their friends and decided to venture around the resort together. Nick led everyone to a cobblestone platform, just in front of Oak Creek with the perfect canopy of trees surrounding it. Nick took Anna to the platform and whispered sweet sentiments that he’d been practicing for days. That’s when everything went blank, and all Anna could see was Nick on one knee asking her to take his hand in marriage, making him the happiest man in the world. Without a doubt in her mind, she said yes!!

A&N

Wedding Day