Both Melinda and Austin attended Bethel University around the same time. However, Melinda only knew Austin as the incredibly cute guy who made videos for student events and Austin only knew Melinda as the curly-haired receptionist in the student government office. Austin graduated in 2016 with a degree in Business Marketing and Film and Melinda in 2017 with a degree in Nursing. After a cross-country move and several career changes later, they both found themselves in Minneapolis on a dating app called Hinge in the fall of 2019 . Melinda recognized Austin immediately and with help from her best friend Alex, started the conversation. They talked for a week over the app before Austin asked Melinda on their first date. They met up at Bethel University, where Austin was back in school getting a second degree in accounting, and had dinner at one of Bethel's on-campus dining options, the 3900 Grill. They sat in a booth for nearly 7 hours, talking non-stop about their lives, interests, and connections from Bethel. After that night, Austin knew he had to see her again, and they planned a second date immediately. Many, many dinner dates, movie nights, trips to the cabin, camping adventures, road-trips, and deep talks about life later, they knew they had found a partner for life and couldn't wait to start that new life together!

Austin and Melinda went on their first camping trip to the North Shore of Minnesota in June of 2020. While on the trip they both kept saying, "We should have brought a ring"! From there, Austin jumped headfirst into planning an epic proposal. Within a month he had planned for Melinda's family to visit his family at their cabin, bought the perfect ring, and organized another camping weekend in Grand Marais. On July 10th Austin and Melinda set out on their camping trip, little did Melinda know a campsite was not their final destination. Austin taped a GoPro camera to ski goggles to create a blindfold which he asked Melinda to put on after they passed Duluth. He drove around for 15 minutes and eventually led her up to the top of Split Rock Lighthouse where he proposed in the same spot as his dad proposed to his mom 30 years ago. They spent the rest of the camping weekend in an extended family cabin on the Gunflint Trail and hiked, canoed, and relaxed, enjoying the just engaged feeling together. The next weekend Melinda and Austin's families celebrated the news together and enjoyed a fun filled lake cabin weekend.