We met at Olympic Sculpture Park on a beautiful Seattle summer evening. Anne had brought her newly adopted dog, Finley, to play in the sand and invited friends for drinks at sunset. One of them brought Aaron along, but we didn’t talk much. Sitting on opposite ends of a log, Aaron snuck glances at Anne, who was blissfully unaware. As the group split up, a few decided to go play board games at an apartment. Aaron had prior plans but canceled just to continue being around Anne. When we arrived, Anne realized she’d lost her phone. Aaron took his chance and offered to Uber us back, and we made our way to the park. With the beach a mile away and only one phone for the e-bike, Aaron suggested, "I’ll run alongside you." When we reached the beach, the phone was nowhere to be found. Sitting next to each other on the log, we discovered that Finley had dug a hole — and there, buried in the sand, was the phone. Mission accomplished, thanks to Finley, our unexpected matchmaker. Aaron proposed five years later on this exact log. The coordinates are engraved inside Anne's engagement ring.

We met and fell in love in Seattle. Here, we discovered our deep love for hiking and the outdoors. We've hiked hundreds of miles together throughout Washington and Oregon (786mi to be precise, and yes Aaron does have a spreadsheet to track). We can't wait for you to soak in the natural beauty of the landscape and smell the fresh scent of of the pine trees. Anne also considers Oregon her second home. She spent summers dipping her toes in the frigid Metolius River near Bend or perfecting her s'more technique over giant bonfires on the coast near Cannon Beach. She spent Christmas' at her grandparents house in Portland surrounded by her cousins, aunts, and uncles. Aaron was lucky enough to fall in love with Oregon too when we lived on the Oregon coast for a few months between our time in Seattle and Austin. We absolutely love every inch of the Pacific Northwest — the food, the scenery, our friends, and the life we've built here together. We can't wait for you to experience it too.

After our first meeting, we parted ways with no plans to reconnect — but the universe had other ideas. One day, as Anne walked home from work in Seattle, she literally bumped into Aaron, who had just left a happy hour. On a whim, Anne pivoted her day to join Aaron and his friends at a bar. There, friends of friends invited us to go jet skiing the next day. Despite having a soccer match scheduled, Aaron canceled his plans when he got an afternoon text: "soo, are you coming jet skiing?" We snuck away from work early and spent the afternoon sharing a jet ski on Lake Washington, laughing as we pointed out lakeside homes that could someday be ours. Afterward, Anne realized she’d lost her phone at work, and once again, Aaron came to the rescue. With the phone safely retrieved, Aaron & Anne finally exchanged numbers and planned a first date. A few thank-yous are in order: Thank you to the universe for bumping us together. Thank you, Andrew Borba (our groomsman), for bringing Aaron to the beach. Thank you to the strangers who let us borrow their jet skis. Thank you, Anne, for always losing your phone (and, Aaron, for eventually teaching Anne the pre-departure mantra: "phone, wallet, keys; phone, wallet, keys."). Thank you, Finley, for burying Anne’s phone in the sand.

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