“If you’re on time, you’re late!” (Andrew’s favorite quote!) The first date that almost didn’t happen… Amanda was late for the first date (big surprise to those that know her well!) by almost fifteen minutes (Which is on time if you ask Amanda). But even before that, Andrew gave her the wrong phone number when they started talking online (but in his defense, who calls themselves that often?). That night they both discovered good things are worth waiting for. What was supposed to be a quick dinner date turned into a four-hour date wandering around downtown Newburyport that neither wanted to end! And that, as they say, is the start of something beautiful!

We were out to dinner celebrating Amanda’s birthday before we left town for a surprise long weekend getaway to New York City. During dinner, there was a live two-piece band playing softly in the corner. A song came on that reminded Amanda of her dad, as it was by one of his favorite artists. The song was “Only the Lonely” and at the moment, Amanda couldn’t remember the exact artist that sang it. She got a little teary-eyed thinking about how much she missed the simple things she used to do with her dad. As the song played on, and after finding Amanda a tissue, Andrew said “Do you know what will make you cry even more?” and then dropped to one knee next to the table. As he presented the ring and asked the question, Amanda started to cry even more and she kept saying “no way” over and over again, to the point that Andrew had to ask if that was a yes! Of course, SHE SAID YES! Even though Andrew asked Amanda's mom for her hand first, Amanda felt the song was her dad's way of giving his blessing.

When we started planning our special day, we never would have thought plans would have to be so drastically changed due to a pandemic. We were in the final stages of planning when the world shut down. With the ever-changing rules, we had to wait until the last minute to make any final decisions on what was going to happen. Luckily, the rules changed to allow us to invite our original guest list to the ceremony due to the church’s capacity. With masks to match our attire and social distancing markers throughout the church, it was an amazing and perfect day. We are thankful for all those who came to be a part of our wedding day. We even got to have a our first dance, cake cutting, champagne toasts, and babushka ceremony in under an hour!