Dear Family and Friends,

Dana has moved mountains and fought through hurricanes to plan this wedding so far and has given me the simplest of tasks which is to write “Our Story” for this website. No small task some may say but I promise to set the scene for this wedding that is the culmination of an 11+ year journey together.

We first met at the ROMANTIC JCA Freshman Mixer. Was it love at first sight? I am not sure but I do remember thinking she was gorgeous, so I ignored her for 2 years because you know, I had to play the long game.

Junior year we had homeroom together. Dana would steal my fruit almost every day that my mom would pack in my lunch (Thanks Mom). I assumed that meant she liked me. Taking the hint I asked her to Christmas dance that year by surprising with flowers as she worked as the hostess at Lone Star.

The Summer of the following year I asked her out and we kissed for the first time. That kiss happed at our family farm at almost the exact spot I would be proposing to her 10 years later and just up the hill from the place we now call home.

This first kiss led to a long journey through phases of love, friendship, distance and eventually back to love. Whether I was in Illinois, Missouri, or California, I could only think about loving one person and that was Dana. I slyly confessed that love to Dana at Nick and Sarah Lennon’s wedding. Maybe it was the infectious dancing that got to me or maybe it was one to many whiskey sours that made me do it, but that little confession definitely had an influence because Dana and I were together again just a few months later.

You dont always get second chances in life so when God gave me a 7th I took it and soon I asked Dana to marry me. When I was a child I use to have this daydream about God sending this angel to me and I use to pray often for that angel. Sometimes I think that angel is Dana and it just took me some growing up to realize that.

Now as we begin this chapter of marriage I hope we can write a story for the ages. Thank you all for being part of the early chapters that have made us who we are today. We hope you continue to be with us through all future chapters and all the twists and turns they bring.

God bless you with endless love.

-Nathan