we're getting married!

Richie and Jacqulene met by happenstance one June night in 2019. Both lovers of music, they attended a Ziggy Alberts concert at The Sinclair in Cambridge with their respective groups of friends. Somewhere in the middle of the small, crowded venue, the two groups of twenty-somethings ended up standing next to each other. Jacqulene was completely locked in on the show—this Australian artist was someone she had waited years to see live. Meanwhile, her friend started chatting with the guys nearby and quickly realized she already knew one of them. To this day, we’re convinced her attendance may have been a strategic move to see said boy… but only she-who-shall-not-be-named knows the truth. Jacqulene was pulled briefly out of her concert trance to be introduced. She noticed Richie almost immediately—mainly because he was the only person wearing a baseball cap and was standing directly in her line of sight to the stage. Naturally. Between songs, a few amused glances and quiet snickers were exchanged, and before long Richie and Jacqulene started paying a little more attention to each other than to the concert. After the show, Jacqulene’s friend—still determined to keep her own romantic hopes alive—convinced everyone to continue the night at a nearby bar. On a school night, no less. Once there, Jacqulene quickly dismissed an adjacent friend (you know who you are, Alex) who realized his efforts were better spent elsewhere. This left Jacqulene and Richie sitting at the bar together, patiently waiting for the inevitable outcome of the two friends who were still busy flirting. Killing time turned into conversation. Conversation turned into laughter. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Richie was granted the rare and prestigious honor of hearing one of Jacqulene’s slam poems recited entirely from memory—an impressive party trick that very few people ever get to witness. In just a couple of hours, they covered a surprising amount of ground: passions, careers, family dynamics, fast cars, travel stories, and of course, Jac's number one guy, Rizzo the dog. But as quickly as the night had come together, it ended. The two hopeful matchmakers lost interest in each other, the boys finished their very late 10 p.m. steak dinners, and the four of them went their separate ways. Richie never asked for Jacqulene’s number. Jacqulene didn’t ask for his either—though, she remembers calling her best friend the next day telling her about this guy with piercing blue eyes who is a musician, who she'll probably never get a chance to see again. Like two ships passing in the night (as Richie likes to say), the evening ended with a bit of mystery. Would they ever see each other again? Fast forward to the summer of 2021, when—somehow—the two found their way back into each other’s orbit. (And yes… Alex was there again.) What neither of them realized at the time was that they were beginning their first trip around the sun together. Four trips (and then some) later, life looks a little different: dogs, horses, big dreams, and building a life together one day at a time. Just like the night they met, no matter what song is playing, it always sounds best when they’re together—and somehow that same quiet pull continues to guide them forward, building a life filled with animals, open skies, and a little more light along the way. ✨