Nick and Kristen’s story begins in late summer of 2022 on a Briar Cliff University Zoom Bible study. Nick thought Kristen was very cute but he did not plan to do much about it. Kristen also felt the same, but she thought he was a little odd. To be fair, he had picked up that first Zoom call while carrying a canoe out of the West Fork of the Little Sioux with Aidan and Aiden… Fast forward a month to the start of school in August, Kristen was a freshman and Nick was a sophomore. They met in person at the first BCU Mass and Kristen was definitely interested in Nick. (Nick was clueless.) She was so excited about her new crush until he pulled out a notebook during the homily and Kristen just knew that he must be joining the seminary. She was devastated and figured she was just going to have to give up on her crush; however, she did not neglect to tell her entire family about “Briar Cliff’s Cute Seminarian Boy.”

Nick and Kristen participated in a small group class through campus ministry called Navigate where they talked about deep topics such as faith, fears, vocation, and childhood memories. It was in this class that Kristen discovered Nick wanted to be a dad! She was so excited because this meant he wasn’t planning on joining the seminary! Her crush was back in full force (although it probably never really left) knowing that he was not actively considering the priesthood. It was also in Navigate that Nick realized that Kristen was the kind of girl that he wanted to marry! They continued to grow as friends, seeing each other at Mass, classes, campus ministry events, and through friends.

Near the beginning of the second semester, Kristen and Nick’s shared friends, Aiden, Cade, and Davess, conspired to finally bring the two together. Aiden and Cade worked on hyping Nick up and implanted the idea of asking Kristen out in Nick’s head, Inception style. While Davess joined Aiden in not so subtly gauging Kristen’s interest. Nick began texting Kristen and she was over the moon with excitement as they continued to get to know each other better. Just a week later, Nick’s uncle, Michael Brauer, was at Briar Cliff attending an event that Kristen was singing at. Michael couldn’t refrain from asking Nick if he was seeing anyone, and if he wasn’t he should think about asking out the nice singer. Nick had to play it cool since it was so early on in the relationship, but he let Michael know that he was working on it.

Eventually, Nick caved (or decided to man up, depending on how you look at it). He knew he needed to ask Kristen out on a date. Unfortunately, it was time for Spring Break, so when Nick finally asked Kristen out, they had to wait a week to finally go on that first date. When they got back from Spring Break, Nick picked Kristen up from her parents’ house and they went to Monterrey for Mexican food! After they got dinner they watched a movie and then went to BCU Campus Ministry’s weekly Bible study. Nick officially asked Kristen to be his girlfriend on March 24th.

Nick and Kristen continued to date while attending BCU. During this year of their relationship they explored Sioux Falls and Sioux City, went to South Dakota State University’s homecoming weekend, and learned that Kristen hated long-distance.

Nick had been planning the proposal for months, and when he woke up on the morning of June 22nd, 2025, asking Kristen to marry him that night had never been part of the plan. What resulted was something much more beautiful than anything Nick could have come up with on his own. During a beautiful Corpus Christi Mass that day, Nick could not keep his mind from wandering… he had a sudden realization that his original plan of proposing the following weekend was never going to work, so he devised a new one. Following the Eucharisitic procession, Nick asked Kristen if she wanted to go to the rose garden at Grandview Park later that night. It was the hottest day of the year, but miraculously she agreed! Nick went home and quickly worked out the details of his new plan. When they got to the rose garden after dinner that night, the sprinklers were on, but the benches were dry, and the weather was surprisingly comfortable. They sat there a while talking, all the while Nick was trying to play it cool, just waiting for a private moment. There were four little kids riding their bikes and scooters around the garden. One of the girls was very kind to them. She kept bringing Kristen flowers that she had scooped out of the fountain and showing her the butterflies that she had caught. Eventually, Kristen got bored and was ready to leave, but obviously Nick wasn’t. He showed her pictures in his wallet to stall until the children were sufficiently distracted by a far off butterfly. At which point, Nick handed her a Sacred Heart token from his wallet’s coin pouch and grabbed the ring out of the same pouch. As Kristen examined the token, Nick got down on one knee and asked the question. Kristen responded with a thrice repeated “Right now?” Nick responded with the affirmative, and finally Kristen said yes!

This year Kristen and Nick have been in full wedding planning mode. It was their biggest dream to have a wedding in June because it is the month dedicated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Providentially, due to every single Saturday in June of 2026 having a wedding or ordination already scheduled, they were able to choose the Feast Day itself for their wedding and could not be more excited. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pray for us!

Before any of this had happened, Kristen had jokingly created a five year plan for herself with her sisters, Jenna and Renee, and it has worked out pretty well for her so far. This is demonstrated by the fact that it is being used as the framework for this very story. At the time of this wedding, Kristen and Nick will be approaching year five, in which Kristen had hoped to start a family. After the wedding and honeymoon, the couple will be starting their life together in Brookings, South Dakota as Nick enters a graduate program at SDSU and Kristen begins her teaching career. They are so excited to experience all that their life and marriage holds.