Nate and Cassie met at the Buffalo County Fair in the summer of 2012 thanks to Nate's cousins, Troy and Austin, who showed pigs with Cassie and Maegan. They quickly became fair besties, and looked forward to spending the first weekend in August with the the Fab 5 every year (see photo circa summer 2015).

During the summer of 2016, the Fab 5 friendship became much more than just a Buffalo County Fair reunion. Cassie and Maegan found themselves driving to Waumandee more times than they could keep track of in order to hang out with 'the boys' (Nate, Troy, and Austin) and the Fab 5 even made their way to Country Fest (see photo). As summer came to an end, Cassie finally admitted to Maegan that she had a crush on Nate, and although it seemed obviously to pretty much everyone, Nate seemed not to have a clue.

Cassie and Nate went their separate ways to college (Cassie in La Crosse and Nate in Eau Claire) once again that fall, and Cassie gave up hope of Nate ever taking a hint. However, Maegan was not going to let that happen. Behind Cassie's back she texted Nate and told him that Cassie had a crush on him all summer, and Nate couldn't believe it! He admitted that he felt the same way, but never thought he had a chance!

On October 1, 2016, Nate came to visit Cassie in La Crosse for the weekend. Cassie was convinced that he just wanted to come hang out and party for the weekend (as friends), but Nate had other plans. He admitted to Cassie that he also had a crush on her (I'll spare you the sappy details), and they decided that they would hang out again the next weekend!

On October 7, 2016 Cassie brought Nate with her, her dad, and a couple friends of her dads to her younger brothers football game. One of her dads friends asked Cassie and Nate how long they had been dating (they guessed 2 or 3 years), and mentioned how cute of a couple they were! Considering the fact that they had only been officially 'talking' for about a week, they weren't quite sure how to answer. Even though they didn't have their first date and photo until December (see photo), thanks to this awkward question and conversation, Nate and Cassie decided to officially start dating on October 8, 2016.

After almost 3 years full of amazing memories, Nate decided to pop the question! On September 28, 2019, Nate woke Cassie up and asked her to come track a deer (a big 10 pointer) with him. After some convincing on Nate's part, Cassie finally rolled out of bed and agreed to go with. Nate was of course obviously excited and anxious, but Cassie assumed it was just because he was pretty sure he had just shot a really nice buck with his bow. After the 5 minute truck ride, 15 minute ranger ride, 5 minute hike up a hill, and a lot of complaining on Cassie's part, Nate had finally gotten Cassie to the exact spot that he had in mind for a perfect proposal and he got down on one knee (see photo thanks to Maegan who hid in the woods).

After the initial shock of the engagement, Nate then brought Cassie to The Ponderosa in Cream where he had gathered many members of both of our families and close friends. It was most definitely a day that neither one of us will ever forget!

Although we had to make the difficult decision to postpone our wedding celebration due to COVID-19, we are beyond excited to finally celebrate our love with all of our friends and family on June 5, 2021 (our almost 1 year anniversary)! Marriage has been such a blessing already, and we can't wait to finally be able to celebrate accordingly!