Mostly we have God & Evan Doud to thank. In the fall of 2020, we were reintroduced to each other at a night time outing in Downtown Des Moines! We wouldn't call our story a love at first sight situation, but maybe more of a love at first fish. Our first date took place at the DMACC pond in Ankeny on September 29th 2020. Very few fish were caught, but it gave us a chance to get to know each other! This is now full circle for us because this pond is on the same piece of land as our reception venue!

This first date really set the tone for our relationship. We both value spending time with family, being outside in nature, hunting, fishing, gardening, and ultimately really enjoyed doing all of those things together!

The rest is pretty much history! Over the past 6 years together we have built businesses that we both still own today, and we've put roots down in Ankeny! We can both say it's an area we plan to be for a really long time! We have always been dreamers together, & its so fun to cheer each other on while we are establishing ourselves in this phase of life!

One of our all time favorite places to spend time outside of work, is Big Creek State Park! We spend a lot of time kayak fishing and morel hunting there! All of the engagement photos you see on our wedding website were taken there this past fall and it has been a staple in our relationship to pop out there for a quick recharge in nature! Speaking of nature and engagement, we got engaged on March 1st of 2025 in St.George Island National Park!

That day we took a two mile walk out to the very tip of the island, and it looked like a scene from Cast Away! Definitely a place that will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we've started a yearly tradition of visiting in February, hopefully for many years to come!

This is such an exciting time and we can't wait to start our married life! We can't stress enough how fortunate we are to have the family & friends that we do, and feel blessed to be able to share this day of celebration with you!