We're getting married!

In the summer of 2015, Cara was home from WSU for a few months and ended up interviewing for a position at the LA Fitness in Tukwila where Mat was working his first job post-graduation as the Operations Manager. One day in May, he had scheduled interviews throughout the day to find a new employee for the front desk attendant. Although Mat had finished most of his interviews and he was 90% sure he had already found his new hire, there was still one left that afternoon – a Ms. Cara Bender. While Mat prided himself on being a respectful and appropriate boss, he can now admit that he was indeed attracted to Cara at the time, but knew he couldn’t make his move for two reasons; Cara was his employee and she was taken. After returning to college and one breakup later, Cara summed up the courage to text her “super cute boss” from last summer to see how he was doing. Now that Cara was no longer his employee, Mat felt comfortable making his first move. He shoots! He – misses.... Cara doesn’t respond for over a week. To this day, Cara still claims she was just nervous, but Mat will never let her live it down. Thankfully, that was not the end of their story. Five years later they are madly in love and this time when Mat made his move, he had a ring.

Each year, the soon to be married couple spends a week up lake at the Engstrom’s family cabin in Stehekin with two of their best friends, Ryan and Allison Snowden. Stehekin is a small village nestled in the Cascade Mountain range at the far end of beautiful Lake Chelan. With an abundance of nature and a lack of cell service, it is the couples’ favorite getaway. Albeit predictable, Mat decided Stehekin would be the perfect location to pop the question. The family cabin is located next to the Stehekin River that flows into the lake and it seemed to Mat that the riverside would be the best place to ask for Cara’s hand. While the girls were getting ready "for lunch,” Mat and Ryan were busy setting the stage. Rose pedals were laid in a path leading from the cabin to an arbor near the river’s edge that was also decorated with flowers. Mat got down on one knee and asked for Cara’s hand and she said "it’s about time - YES!" Without cell reception to share the moment with friends and family, Mat wanted to do something special for Cara. The couples’ friends and family were kind enough to send Mat short videos congratulating the newly engaged couple so he could put together a little five minute video for Cara to watch afterwards. For those of you that know Cara well, you know what happened next…… Photoshoot!