Jordan and Tyler Colombo Engagement Announcement

Jordan Nelsen, daughter of Mark and Julie Nelsen of Wakonda SD, has become engaged to Tyler Colombo, son of Joey and Jamie Colombo of Medford OR.

Saturday, September 25th 2021

Proposal

We went on a hike at Buzzards Roost, which is one of our favorite hikes (it is also the same place we took our 1st hike together as a couple the previous year) early in the morning. When we got all the way to the top while I was busy taking pictures of the scenery, he had set up his phone to record the whole thing. I didn't notice at all, as I was pre-occupied. I turned around & he was down on one knee! I immediately bawled happy tears!

How They Met

Our story is like something you see in the movies. The more times I tell it, the more I know that our paths crossing was definitely more than just coincidental. I have no explanation for the way that both of our life circumstances aligned at the perfect time and led us to meet each other. It couldn't have happened at a better time in either of our lives, and the fact that it happened at all, especially when it did is nothing short of fate.
My fiance' grew up in Redding, California and joined the Air Force at age 21. A year later, he was stationed in Aviano, Italy for 3 years. At the end of that 3 years, he got asked to list which bases throughout the U.S. that he wanted to be stationed at next. Box Elder, South Dakota was not one of them. So much to his surprise, he was informed that he would be moving to the base in Box Elder. He wasn't especially excited for this because this was not a base on his “wish list.” But regardless, he ended up arriving in the Black Hills in August of 2018.
 Meanwhile, I grew up in small town Wakonda, South Dakota & moved to Sioux Falls right after high school. I ended up living in that area for 8 years before deciding I needed a change. I had no reason to leave, I was just wanting to experience something different. I didn't have a specific place in mind, just knew I wanted to stay relatively close to South Dakota. A few job interviews later, I received an offer in Rapid City that was too good to turn down. My mom and I made a trip there shortly after to look for housing and I looked at 2 apartments, both of which I really loved. It was a tough choice, but I finally made a decision to go with the apartment I was slightly leaning more towards. I moved there in May of 2019 (9 months after Tyler did.) Here's the crazy part. Out of all the housing in Rapid City, the 1 apartment I chose, just so happened to be right next door to Tyler. Neither of us had ever planned on living in Rapid City, but I believe that fate brought us both there in the same time frame. In the SAME BUILDING. What are the odds? I met him the very first day I moved in (he even helped my family move furniture!) and if you would've told me that day, that I was going to end up marrying that “cute next door neighbor”, I would've called you crazy!
We went on our first date only two days after I moved in. When the date was over, we had enjoyed each other's company so much, that we decided to grab some margaritas at a restaurant right next to our apartments. I must admit, that walking home together that night to the apartment building we shared, seemed a little odd at first. You usually don't live in the same building as your date, but it actually turned out to be really convenient as time went on (for example we could always share a Lyft haha.) We've spent every day together since that first date and the rest is history 😊