Written by Steven:
We are a Tinder success story! Back during Christmas of 2018 we matched when we were both in Wisconsin for the holidays. Tanner was not being responsive enough since it was his birthday, but I was PERSISTENT (surprised?) and eventually got Tanner talking, and then we never stopped. The first time we were going to meet, Tanner was supposed to come visit me in Minnesota, but there was a snowstorm and he wasn't comfortable making the journey. Since the storm in MN was over, I decided to go to Oshkosh and meet him (again, PERSISTENT!). I showed up at his door with flowers, and he's been hooked ever since.

Written by Tanner:
Our proposal was my turn to be impatient! We had talked about wanting to get married, and Steven was taking too long for my liking. We were getting our apartment ready for Christmas, and I wanted my Christmas trees (yes, multiple. Don't act surprised!) from back home, so we met my mom at the Leinie's Lodge in Eau Claire on Saturday, November 16, 2019. We went back to MN and I told Steven that I had a surprise for him, but we had to get the tree decorated first. We finally finished decorating at 1 in the morning, and then Steven was like 'okay, gift time!' I was super anxious and not quite ready, so I made him wait a little bit while I finalized everything and gave myself a pep talk. I had him come into the living room and handed him a note, and told him to read it. Then he opened the box that was with it, and I had made an ornament for the tree saying 'will you marry me?' and he looked up and I was on one knee in front of him crying. Obviously, he said yes, so here we are!

Told by both:
T: Eloping was my idea! We were supposed to wait to actually get married until I was finished with school, since that was the financially smart option with financial aid, but then Starbucks changed a few things with their college program so we found out we could move the wedding up. We started planning, and I started getting stressed so I said 'what if we elope?'
S: I was SO on board. Neither of us are great at being on time, so elopement meant that we wouldn't have to have a ceremony, or the stress that came with it. After making sure Tanner was SURE SURE that he wanted to elope, we talked about when. We were planning to visit Alexandra in Denver since she just bought a house and wanted us to bring Hazel and Navey, so the timing worked out perfectly. As mentioned, we LOVE the mountains, so we figured we could get married with a gorgeous backdrop. Plus, Alexandra is an amazing photographer, so we knew she could do our photos.
T: We got Alexandra's thoughts, and since she loved the idea, we went for it! We planned from MN, booking flowers for us and Alexandra, and flower collars for the dogs, a mountain themed s'mores cake, outfits, and we were super excited for the plan. We headed on the road trip to Colorado (with minimal problems - thanks for behaving kids!). We decided to actually 'get married' on the 13th as a nod to my girl, Taylor. We got our marriage license, Alexandra became a ministress, and we headed up the mountain!
S: We got to Brainard Lake (outside Boulder, CO), and walked around getting an idea for photos and where we wanted to say our vows. We got some photos around the lake because it was beauty all around us. Then we decided we wanted to say our vows in the water on a rock with the mountain in the background. Lighting was PERFECT (great planning by Alexandra), but the water was cold. We ran back to the car to grab a couple things, and on the way back to the spot, we saw a moose! Tanner had been DYING to see a moose the whole trip, We went back to the spot, said our vows, popped the champagne, and that was it - we were officially married!