We’re getting married!

We’ve created this website as a helpful resource for all of the need-to-know details in the lead up to our big day. Here you’ll find our schedule of timings and venue directions, along with the background of our love story. We’d love for you to take a look around to learn more about our wedding day plans. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 and the social distancing and travel advisories related to it, we have decided to postpone our wedding until July 25, 2021. We realize the change in date may make it more challenging for some of you to attend but we want to ensure that the celebration is as safe and stress-free as possible. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns! We kindly ask that you RSVP once again, even if you have done so already in order for us to get a new, more accurate guest count. Please let us know about any dietary preferences, too. And finally, thanks so much for all of your love and support so far! We have not taken this decision lightly and we can’t wait to celebrate this special day with all of our favorite people.

We met at our first day of orientation for our Doctorate of Physical Therapy program and didn’t think much of it. We were both brand new to Andrews University, but our friend groups overlapped so we naturally became friends. But after months and months of just keeping each other in “the friend zone,” we agreed to meet for brunch. Alex ordered coffee and a specialty pancake while Anika ordered a Belgian waffle and a glass of chocolate milk. Neither of us expected to meet someone in PT school, but we were told “there’s always at least one couple out of every class.” By the time we graduated we had spent countless dates studying at coffeeshops, enjoying days at Lake Michigan, and traveling cross country to visit each other during our clinical placements. We finally got to start planning to spend the rest of our lives together.

We had planned to spend a long weekend in Grand Rapids, MI since we missed being up there after our last clinical placements. We decided to go to dinner at a restaurant that we had been wanting to go to for a long time. We could not make reservations so we ended up going later in the evening and there was already about an hour and a half wait. This is when Alex started getting nervous, because it might have been dark by the time we were done. We managed to finish eating, go out to walk around Reed's lake, and enjoy the sunset. Just as it became dusk, Alex pointed to something in the distance and while Anika looked away, Alex dropped to one knee. Despite some anticipation, Anika was completely in shock and could only respond with "are you serious?!" to which Alex simply nodded. The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating, including a visit to the Tulip festival in Holland, MI. Because we love Michigan so much, we even decided to get married there! We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in Holland!