Austin and I first met my sophomore year and his junior year of high school. My first impression of Aust was... well, we didn’t get along too well. We’re both brutally honest and extremely stubborn. Those two years of high school you never knew what Austin and Nelli you were getting. Would it be the besties making jokes or would it be the frenemies that couldn’t stand each other and wouldn’t stop arguing? We didn’t even know ourselves (lol).


Fast forward to the summer before my senior year of high school. Austin was persistent and would ask me to hang out with him every single day until I finally caved and said yes. Our first date was July 12, 2017. If you couldn’t already tell, weve been inseparable ever since. Shortly after, I had a softball tournament in California and coincidentally Austin was staying with his friends near Huntington Beach. Lucky for me, Lauren was staying with me and she got to come along on a two hour drive so that I could say hi to Austin for 20 minutes before we had to go back to our hotel room. (Did my dad want to kill me and think I was a boy crazy teenager? Yes. Did he rent a car for himself so that I could drive his to see Austin? Also, yes.) I remember texting Austin during that trip and telling him how much I loved him. A few short days later on August 8, 2017 he asked me to be his girlfriend. December 27, 2017 he messaged me “I cant wait to marry [you] baby girl”. We have spent almost every single day since then together.


The proposal happened on September 2, 2023 in Sedona, Arizona. When he proposed to me I was flooded with so much joy. The idea of spending forever with Austin has been a dream of mine since 2017. We are so lucky to have already spent so much of our lives together and can’t wait for what’s to come.


We’re both so grateful to you, our community, for your love and support. We can’t wait to celebrate the wedding with you soon!