Ironically, it all started at a wedding! In 2014, John O’Connor (Charlie’s cousin) married Andrea O’Connor (Allie’s part-time childhood babysitter and full-time family friend) in Traverse City, MI. While we wish we could share a beautiful story about our eyes meeting and experiencing love at first sight… that is not exactly how it happened. Fifteen-year-old Allie thought Charlie was a cute older boy (he was… and still is), she creeped on Andrea and John’s wedding hashtag, found the photo Charlie posted at the wedding, and followed him on Instagram. How romantic! We connected after the wedding and stayed friends over the years. They say the slowest burns create the strongest fires, and we must be a testament to that because almost TEN years later, we reconnected by bonding over a Michigan State Football post. We grabbed dinner in Grand Rapids on our first date, and Allie couldn’t stop nervous talking the whole time. Charlie got maybe 2 words in (which hasn’t changed much since that day). On the second date when Charlie had to witness Allie watching a Michigan State Basketball loss live and didn’t immediately run, they knew it was real (Northwestern’s Boo Buie still haunts both of us - it’s a sensitive topic). Before reconnecting, Allie already had plans to move to Minneapolis for work. Despite knowing long distance would be a challenge, we decided what we had was worth figuring it out. We had one, amazing summer together in Michigan full of meeting each other’s family and friends. At the end of the summer, Allie made the move to the Central Time Zone. Our long distance journey was full of fun visits and adventures, but also a lot of teary airport goodbyes. One of those fun visits was when Allie came home for Thanksgiving in November 2024. Charlie told Allie they would be visiting Traverse City for a weekend getaway with his family. While killing time before checking into the condo, we stopped by the wedding venue where we first met to look at some boats on the water. Allie even said, “Woah! Look at those boats!” which played into Charlie’s plan perfectly. A few minutes later, Charlie got down on his knee and asked Allie to marry him. After saying yes, both of our families came around the corner and surprised us with a huge celebration. It was a memory we will never forget! A few months later, we closed our chapter of long distance as Charlie relocated to Minneapolis. We have been exploring new activities and restaurants, all while planning a wedding from another state. We’ve made it back home to see our lovely families and friends, but no amount of visits could ever be enough. Which brings us to now! Who would have thought being teenagers at a 2014 wedding would someday lead to us planning our own wedding!? We were a tad oblivious to that possibility, but good thing God was looking out for us. We love you all! We are so excited to celebrate with our favorite people in the world. Thank you in advance for all of the effort, travels, and love! Oh, and if you’re single, check out the wedding hashtag about 2 days after our wedding. You might just find love (but stay patient… it might take a decade or so).