We’re getting married!!!

As many of you know, Alex and Natalie both graduated from the University of Florida - they even lived in the same dorm their freshman year - however they didn’t first meet in Gainesville! They actually met 8000 miles away in New Zealand while studying abroad. Natalie has been a fan of Lord of the Rings since she was a kid so of course she had to see The Shire in person. Alex thought it would be cool. After a few weeks of traveling around the country in a big van, never spending more than two days in the same place, and seeing some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world - it was time to go home. Actually, Alex went to Australia solo first! He had asked Natalie to join him but she figured her parents wouldn’t be the biggest fans of her last minute going to Australia with a guy they had never met… Natalie and Alex reconnected after arriving back to UF to start their Senior Year and have been together ever since.

After graduating from UF, Natalie started working on her nursing school prerequisites and applying to different programs while Alex was looking for a short term job to work before he started his career in the State Department. After some spur of the moment job searching, Alex got a job working as a dog handler on a glacier in Alaska and off he went. Though cell service was spotty, we were able to keep in touch through weekly FaceTime calls and care packages - Alex’s favorite was Chai that had to be brought in by helicopter! After a few months, Alex returned to start his job with the state department in Washington DC and Natalie started nursing school at NYU. For 2 years, we did monthly bus trips (basically becoming MegaBus ambassadors) and were counting down the days until my nursing program was completed and long distance was over!

In the Summer of 2020 we finally moved in together (into a tiny 1 bedroom apartment - ouch)! Of course Natalie's first order of business was getting her puppy that she'd been wanting since undergrad. It was only a matter of time until a local rescue posted a story of a litter of puppies dumped on the side of the road in rural Virginia and aptly named them all after Italian foods (think Pesto, Linguini, Parmesan...) and Natalie and Alex finally got their dog - Panini! (side note: we are actually getting married on Panini's birthday, she thinks this is just an extravagant birthday party for her) Alex has been working with the State Department ever since his internship there. Natalie currently works at Georgetown University Hospital as a Registered Nurse. She started out on an adult surgical specialties floor and spent two and a half years there before transferring to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Natalie and Alex have kept up the tradition of travelling and have been to over 12 countries together! We're still deciding where we want to visit for the honeymoon (maybe Norway??) and would love to hear your recommendations!