[Sydney]
Well, I guess I should start off by thanking my older sister, Shelby, as she knew Nick & those Madrid boys long before I heard the infamous name Nick Efkamp. When he and I started talking, he was at the University of Alabama running track and I was finishing high school and had committed to playing volleyball for Northern Illinois that fall. It started casual - He was pretty cute and kind of a big time athlete, but we were worlds apart. After we spent a few months of getting to know each other over the phone, Nick asked me out on our first date, Fong's Pizza in Des Moines, over Christmas break. Nick knew one of my favorite foods was Chinese, so to put a spin on it, he suggested... their crab rangoon pizza. This was Nick's first, of many, thoughtful and considerate actions. It's funny, our favorite restaurant around the corner from our house now has the best pizza in KC. I never would have thought innocently getting to know a man living 15 hours away would turn into a trusting, passionate, loyal, fun, loving, lasting relationship.
[Nick]
I’m going to direct my Thank You’s to Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter) and Evan Spiegel (co-founder of Snapchat). After all, it’s these platforms that gave me the courage to reach out and message this gorgeous girl that I knew of through friends of friends (and sisters of friends)! It started as friendly conversations between two individuals whose lives truly revolved around athletics. I mean, we were 900 miles apart – nothing would be able to come of that, right? Fast forward 3 months, after increasing texting, and eventual every day face-timing, we got to officially meet face to face. Our first date was filled with everything I was afraid of...falling for a girl that I knew I wouldn’t be able to see again for months, and who was going to quickly learn the demands of Division I athletics that I knew all too well. But that’s exactly what happened – the more we got to know each other, we grew closer and closer. Spring came, I graduated from Alabama and moved back to Iowa, which gave us a couple fun, memorable months together before Sydney moved away to play volleyball in Illinois.
I could go on and on, so many memories made in the last 6 years, but long story short, I still can't get enough of this amazing woman's love and attention. I can honestly say that every day still feels like “young love” – that crazy 900-miles-apart craving, even though we’re living under the same roof.
[Sydney]
I always knew I would marry Nick one day, I mean, there's no doubt that he's my person. But we both had things that we wanted to accomplish before getting engaged and eventually getting married, which is why it took several years before we got engaged. Since we met when I was 17, I had a lot of growing up to do, and a lot of life I needed to experience on my own. I recently found a saying that really resonated with me: "I found you when I went looking for me." And that could not have been more true.
Little did I know, Nick had been planning his proposal for quite a long time. He had bought the ring several months before that Spring day and was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to pop the question. Who knew the perfect opportunity would be in the middle of a pandemic on a dreary, rainy day? To tell you the truth, it was absolutely perfect... Nick had pre-arranged all of it with both of our families to go back home for the weekend and do some "family photos" with my bestie Emily serving as the photographer. While our families were inside getting ready for the [fake] family pictures, Nick and I went up to a field of prairie grass and flowers to help Emily get her camera lens setup and ready. After posing for a couple shots, I turned around looking for Nick since he wasn't by my side for the photos, and there he was, down on one knee with a beautiful band of diamonds held out for me.
People asked me later what he said in that moment, but honestly it's all a blur. I know I kissed him my answer and our families soon joined us up in the field with lots of hugs, tears, and the cutest handmade signs.