I won’t say I’m marrying Nicolas entirely because of a piece of computer paper, but this one definitely helped! The poster advertised a study abroad program in Washington, D.C., and even though D.C. is America bound (not abroad) I was hooked. So in September of junior year, I decided to go spend my next summer in D.C..

But between seeing that paper and actually making it to D.C., two very important things happened- Nicolas dove headfirst into his faith and the two of us became friends.

In February of 2023, Matthew added Nico to our spring break cruise groupchat. During the planning process, I noticed he changed the format of the doc often (now this tracks). As the two celiac people of the group, Nicolas and I had arranged seats next to one another at every meal on the cruise. I don’t know if you know this about cruises, but there are a LOT of meals. There, we found out we both would be in D.C. the coming summer for separate programs through Mizzou!! On stop day 2023, the day to mark the end of the year’s classes, Nicolas and I drove around Columbia out to Bigtree and talked for hours. I remember he talked a bit about us meeting up in D.C.

On June 3, 2023, Nico and I met up at an Alli coffeeshop in Washington, D.C., then he walked with me to a museum on the National mall later that day (It was 85% humidity, I’m amazed we made it out alive)! Throughout the summer, we saw Barbenheimer, had bottomless mimosas sponsored by Nancy Arneson, mutually obsessed over the Catholic bookstore in the National Bascilia, and had some of the best conversations walking to and from subway stops. We ended up spending all our time together (oops). One day, while sharing an umbrella in the rain, we both said we were catching feelings for the other. I requested that we waited until Columbia because D.C. was so far away from normal life and discerning would be tough (that part is my bad haha). I noticed that I always cared about his opinion, and really respected him!! When we weren’t together and something interesting would happen, I’d always want to tell him about it and hear his reaction.

On August 20, Nico came back to Columbia! He mentioned he wanted to play beach volleyball so I texted all my top volleyball contacts (ended up being way too many messages) and we had a fabulous game after student Mass. After, we took a long walk around the Columns and he asked me on a date! Nico had three places planned for the first date, but we only made it to 1 and 3 because we spent so much time talking at place number one, the Heidelberg. Two days after our first date, on Aug. 27, Nicolas asked me to be his girlfriend! I knew heading into a relationship senior year of college was a bit risky, but man I am so glad we did.

After that, time has FLOWN. Some highlights include; Nico’s Confirmation in October 2023, hosting tailgates together, looking at rings in January, sharing gluten free hot subs at Jersey Mike’s, getting a Sam’s club membership and sharing my Canva premium password with Nicolas. All of my international travel has been with this kid (the cruise and Uganda 2024), and seeing the world together has been unmatched. The both of us knew pretty quickly that we were interested in marrying the other, and we have both spiritually grown so much and continue to ask the Lord to help us grow more. On June 29, 2024, Nicolas asked me to marry him and hot dog it was the easiest yes!

I truly cannot believe how the Lord has transformed our hearts and lives and this engagement has flown as well. I cannot wait to celebrate with all of you this coming June. :)))

As far as how we met- neither of us can remember!! My first memory of Nicolas was before 54 country our freshman year at Lutz’ barbecue in Columbia (before it closed :(((). We debated whether nuclear power is a viable form of energy for like 20 minutes (I still maintain it could be cool)!

Q + A

WILL THE WEDDING BE INDOORS?

WHAT SHOULD I DO BETWEEN THE MASS AND HAPPY HOUR/RECEPTION?

IS THERE A DRESS CODE FOR THE WEDDING?