We cannot wait to celebrate our special day with you! We are very excited to have each and every one of you there to watch us tie the knot. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you for being there for us throughout our journey to finding one another. We're thankful to God, our family, and friends. It's going to be such a great time, and we're so glad you're going to share it with us!

Online dating sucks! Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. After a few failed attempts and much wasted time, I came across Nick's profile and saw the went to Biola (the lesser southern CA Christian school) and decided to swipe right. We messaged on Hinge for a few days and he seemed surprisingly normal. (Again, online dating sucks!) I was driving to my parents' house in the east bay and knew I would be driving past where Nick lived in Martinez, so I sent him a message with the classic line "I never do this... but I'll be in your area later tonight. Want to grab a drink?" (Honestly... I never used that line before!) It didn't work. He turned me down. He said he had a "friend" visiting from out of town, but suggested the next day and asked for my number. Naturally, I jumped to "Dayna-downer" and assumed his "friend" was a Friday night date. For some reason, I agreed to give him my number, but rejected the Saturday meet up for fear that he was a player (spoiler alert: he's far from it!) He called me the next morning, but in order to play it cool, I let it go to voicemail and didn't call him back until that afternoon. I remember talking on the phone and thinking that he made me laugh... a lot! (Foreshadowing of my future!) I agreed to meet for coffee the next day at a Starbucks in Walnut Creek (it was Mother's Day) at 2:00. We talked for about an hour and a half and when we left Starbucks, Nick said "Thanks for the coffee. It was nice meeting you!" What! No, "I'll talk to you soon"? I remember driving home and being a little sad that he didn't end our meet with much hope of another hang out. However; around 9:00 PM that night, he called and the rest is history. Oh, and in case you were wondering... he didn't have a date on that Friday night. He really did have a friend in from out of town because it was Nick's 40th birthday!

For years, my biggest fear has been failure. When I dated in my younger years, I was always thinking "How could I provide for a family if I failed?!?", which always stopped me from committing deeply to anyone as that fear held me back. I am appreciative for my Covid experience, as it showed me that even after losing so much and being in debt, I can pull myself out. IT gave me confidence that I maybe could be the man that someone would want to spend their life with, trusting in their ability to provide. On May 14th, 2 days after I turned 40, I met Dayna. She was very pretty, easy to talk to, fun, kind, seemed thoughtful, witty and beautiful. We chatted for an hour or so and then I had to go to my last day of work before I started my new job the next day. It was a wonderful time, so I hoped to see her again. We talked that week and it was great! We met up the following week at a restaurant and I just remember being so excited to see her and REALLY wanting to hold her hand at the restaurant. We then left and kissed, only once... I was hooked. I knew I was all in a few days later when I drove an hour to see her for 30min before she left for 9 days (essentially an eternity), and I knew that I was in love with her. Several make-out sessions later, we are now here :)

I kind of thought it would happen sometime Christmas Eve or day. After it didn't happen, I told myself "Dayna, play it cool. Don't say anything and don't let him know you're sad". (Side note: I don't hide my emotions well. This was no exception). Nick wanted to go out for dinner on Thur. Dec. 28 at a nice steakhouse and then we walked to get frozen yogurt. We both were so full and decided to come home and I suggested playing darts and smoking a cigar. When we got back to his house, I mentioned that I was going to change into leggings and a sweatshirt (black on black of course!) and wash my face. His response was "Can we just go and play now? That takes you a long time!" (Rude!) Looking back on it, that was tip #1 that it was coming. Tip #2 was he wanted to keep his nice jacket on. We walk into his garage and I grabbed all of the darts and said "Nick, if I get a bullseye you have to propose to me." I said it confidently, but I threw 9 darts while Nick was lighting his cigar. On my 10th attempt, I got the bullseye, dead center in the middle and looked and him triumphantly and then sat on his Harley. He said okay, put down his cigar and walked over to me. I remember him saying "Dayna Frances Rychen, I love you and..." (he had to fill in the blanks for me later), but I remember telling him to stop it because, as you know, Nick is a jokester and I thought this was him trying to be "funny". I know I kept asking if he was serious and to not joke, but it wasn't until I saw his eyes well up and he pulled out a ring and dropped to one knee... then I lost it. That moment shared just between the two of us was so special and private. I loved it. What Nick didn't love was all of the pictures I made him take after. He was putting back his tripod that we used and whacked his forehead right into the corner of a shelf on his wall, leaving a nice little puncture wound and looking extremely pale. Lucky for us, we could finish smoking our cigars and didn't have to go to the ER. After 228 days. He asked, and I couldn't be happier!

I knew I wanted to marry her since our 3rd date, so when I found out she was interested in marriage it was just a matter of time. We looked at rings in early November, trying to figure out her size and seeing what she liked. I bought the ring at the end of that month, then had time to decide what to do when it came to asking her. I had lots of ideas, which all revolved around our families being together. Unfortunately, I tried to do it around Christmas (which I don't know if you're familiar, but it's a busy time of year). I tried for 3 separate time slots and one group of our families could never make it. I was a bit sad, but just had to figure something else out. Dayna's Dad reassured me by saying "It will be great if it's just you, because it's you two in the end anyway." Something like that ;) I planned a nice meal at Fleming's steakhouse one night and made sure to bring our favorite bottle of wine (it's the only bottle of wine i've ever cared about. Aged in whiskey barrels, only $30, SO good). Dinner was great, we were stuffed, she wanted to get froyo and then said "Hey, let's go smoke cigars and throw darts." I loved that idea and thought I could do it maybe after we played a game of darts, or at some cute/sweet moment. As we got into the garage and started setting things up, Dayna looked at me and said "Ok, if I hit a bullseye you have to ask me to marry you" (if you know Dayna, she's never sassy). I said "Eh, we'll see", SECRETLY hoping she would hit one. I played aloof as she threw a few, and pretty quickly I heard her exclaim "Oh look!". I thought 'Perfect'... I walked over to her as she leaned on my Harley. I said "Yup, you did it". I looked at her and said "I knew I wanted to marry you from the 3rd time I saw you. I love you and would love to keep getting to know you for the rest of my life." During that time, I pulled the box out of my pocket. She was confused, happy, excited. I asked "So, will you marry me?" She started crying, and said "Yes!".