We met in 2009 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges over brunch with friends – friends that secretly had it in mind to introduce the two of us. We immediately hit it off and soon enough were spending countless hours sneaking off to kiss in the wood shop in between art classes. Alas, our moment in the sun came to an end when Kirby left to her study abroad program in Rome, and Ben to his MBA in London. Until five years (and many thousands of miles of travel) brought us both together in New York in 2015. Ben asked Kirby to a simple, seemingly “platonic” lunch, Kirby graciously accepted and with our relationship rekindled, decided to live together in Denver, Colorado and now to be married.

I had originally planned a proposal for January 1st, 2019, but after a weekend filled with tree trimming with friends, and walks around the Denver Botanic Gardens I could barely sleep the night of December 9th thinking how I just felt so inspired and wanted to propose NOW. Kirby and I don’t decorate all that much for Christmas at home since we travel back to Pennsylvania to visit her family, even though she loves Christmas. So, on December 10th, I went out and decorated our small mile high apartment in true Christmas fashion, including me in her Dad’s Lederhosen as a shirtless Christmas elf (for our numerous therapist friends, pay attention to that one), and awaited Kirby’s arrival at home. When she opened the door, she instantly burst into tears of joy – just from the Christmas decorations! Kirby was completely floored when we had our intimate proposal at home, finally slipping the custom black diamond ring we built together onto her slender finger. We started celebrating that night at the Cooper Lounge and haven’t stopped since.

While dreaming of our wedding, we kept coming back to the importance of family and friends. Weddings are often one of the only times in your life where everyone you love is in the same place at the same time. That energy is powerful and we want to harness and celebrate it. We are holding a multi-day wedding so that we can truly relish in all the love that we have for each other and all of you. We booked a villa in Italy for five nights and aim for it to be relaxing, restorative, and romantic. We chose this villa because of its beautiful location, accessibility via public transportation (or short drives), proximity to nearby towns, and most importantly, the ability to house everyone together. Our union will take place on the summer solstice in 2020 (scratch that - NEAR summer solstice in 2021) (NOPE - summer solstice 2022 babyyyy) a natural marking of celebration often associated with change, nature, and new beginnings - including the beginning of the new moon. Between morning yoga in the vineyards, afternoons poolside, and sunset aperitifs, we will have activities to ensure a relaxing and romantic celebration. We are who we are, both as individuals and as a couple, because of you and it wouldn’t be the same without you there.

This is true. While our wedding #1 in East Hampton wasn't the wedding we had originally planned, in some of the most important ways, it was still what we had always dreamed. We got married (still on the summer solstice), we were surrounded by people we love, we celebrated for multiple days, the ceremony felt very "us" and we were in a beautiful location. Again, we can't thank our family and friends enough who all helped to pull this together in less than a month. Thank you to Kirby's Mom for perfectly preserving her wedding dress 40 years ago so that a little piece of her could be present our on our wedding day, Ben's Mom for perfectly planning every beautiful detail, Kirby's Dad for his constant love and generosity, Kirby's Sister for the beautiful thought to compile videos from the 70+ friends and family who couldn't be there, our bestie Anna for officiating, Ben's Stepdad for playing the guitar, Ben's Dad for showing his support, Kirby's Aunt for making the trip, Kirby's Godmother for the photographer, and The Art Barge for donating the beautiful space. We are eternally grateful. We've added some photos of the celebration under "Photos". All of this said - it wasn't the same without all of YOU there and we still want to celebrate, eat cheese, drink wine, and dance the nights away. Having everyone together was one of the biggest parts of our wedding vision. Italy 2021 for wedding #2 here we come!! Ok... wedding #3 here we come!

International celebrations take a bit of forward planning. We request: We are assuming all those who have already RSVP'd "yes" are still attending our 2022 wedding. If you are ABLE to attend, no action needed. If you are UNABLE to attend, please let us know by December 31, 2021 so that we can plan appropriately. We are (still) so excited!!