A couple of weeks ago, Shaley of West Desperado got engaged to her handsome cowboy Nick! It’s no surprise that we- like every other girl that loves Shaley- were instantly so happy for her!

It’s not everyday that one of the top western fashion icon and influencers gets engaged, and damn if we’re not excited to see what is in store for her wedding planning dreams!

Until then, we’ll leave you with their sweet love story and how the proposal happened!

THE LOVE STORY

How did ya’ll meet?!

I moved in with my sister in between graduating college and starting my first job and Nick was her farrier. So one day when my sister went to work, she left me a check to give to the farrier who was going to come that day, and we hit it off immediately. However, I was going to start my first job in another state, so we actually didn’t start dating until almost a year later, when we knew we could make long distance work.
Nick would make the 5 hour drive to come visit me a handful of times after I moved and that was when I knew that he was serious about us. We started dating 6 months & many visits back and forth after I moved away. I was nervous about getting serious with a traveling rodeo cowboy at first, but he was persistent with his dedication to our relationship

Whats your favorite thing to do together?

Traveling! We don’t take any extravagant trips by any means, but when Nick was still rodeoing, I would take time off work to drive to rodeos and cheer him on. We also love traveling to country music festivals together in the summer—there are a handful of decent ones within a few hours of where we live & we are always able to meet up with friends when we go. 

What has been your favorite date?

I think we define our “dates” different than other people, cause I’d have to say my favorite date was when he took me turkey hunting for the first time. It wasn’t planned and things went awry, but I’ve never laughed so hard, and it was the perfect “escape” I needed for the period of life I was going though at the time.

When did you know that you wanted to marry each other? 

It’s hard to nail this down to a specific time. We’ve been through a lot together, both highs and lows, and we’ve always managed to come out stronger as a couple from it all. We’ve grown so much together, that it became hard to picture a life without him. 

Walk us through the proposal day!

It happened during his family’s branding weekend, and I found out later that he bought the ring back in December and had been planning on proposing that weekend the whole time! It’s always a good time, surrounded by family and friends. The branding was all wrapped up, and I went over to get my horse ready to ride back down to the house. I heard Nick holler at me from inside the branding pin, and I just thought he was making sure I was getting ready to go. I led my horse into the pin (he had his horse tied up in there, so it didn’t seem strange he was still hanging out in there). After checking my cinch for me, he leaned in and kissed me then said “that’s your last kiss as my girlfriend” I just kinda laughed, thinking he had one too many branding celebratory beers. He kissed me one more time then stepped in front on me and my horse. I remember at this point noticing all our friends were outside the pin with their phones out, but before I could think about that too much, I realized Nick had gotten down on one knee. I was in such a shock I can’t remember exactly the words he was saying, but I knew my answer was yes! I later asked if he was nervous at all and he told me no, he was ready to pop the question!

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