We’re getting married!

Hello there! Welcome to our one stop shop wedding website my wonderful fiancée Rachel worked painstakingly to put together. If you're reading this you're a curious individual who enjoys soaking in every detail in life to its fullest, or my mom. Join me as I tell our tale in a way only Scott sitting at a computer late on a Sunday night with a grin on his face and a head full of sleep deprivation could. Sit... Listen...

The3rdOneDucked and I met as many of the kids do now-a-days on an online dating website. At the time eHarmony cost money and swiping right or left was only something thieves did in a crowded market. OkCupid was our drug of choice and our reference to the site as "OkStupid" was due to the fact we were still closet users and not ready to admit that we had met each other online. Horsebutt and I enjoyed many long chats, then phonecalls, and then finally decided to meet in person even though me driving 1.5 hours both ways to see her seemed quite serious at the time. One thing Rachusquirrel made clear before our first date was that she had a "bubble" that was not to be tested. Tales of caution were told of previous boys who thought it to be a joke and paid the price of banishment and desolation. I was on my guard as she came to the door. Prepared for a handshake, I received a hug. So far so good. The date lasted hours and consisted of bowling (where I lost every game), playing catch, and eating at A&W (Where I texted my boys from the bathroom on how attractive I found Reuben). The day ended with a sunset farewell. I received not one, but two hugs as a goodbye and drove the costly 1.5 hours home where I paced the house smiling and shaking my head wondering what just happened.

Ask Rachel.

The Boony Rachel is an introvert. I'll pause and let the shock of the realization set in and continue when you've fully wrapped your mind around the notion of the possibility. One of the common themes of our relationship was her being stretched to do things out of her comfort zone (taking a bus to downtown Madison and walking into a church aka theater in downtown Madison she'd never been to before, showing her face on video chat, etc). If ever something was too much she would run and hide under the bed (both figuratively and sometimes literally). My job as a caring partner was to coax her out like a little timid rabbit, dangling carrots of curiosity and providing a platform of security. Her nickname "Bunny" became "Boony" simply because I have an affinity for the "oo" vowel sound and it gives the name more versatility of inflection options. And the Bear One Sunday afternoon we were playing blackjack in my living room. We didn't have a dealer so we used a stuffed bear. He kept hitting 21 or 20 against our 19s or busting us. "BEAR," we would exclaim as yet another set of chips went to the card slinging ursidae. Even after our home casino experience we would yell "Bear" at each other for anything that went wrong. The name became solidified as mine on a day where Rachel's visit lasted an extra day past the usual weekend date and she sat at my house while I went to work. I drew an MS Paint depiction of a bored bear sitting at work while a cute bunny had a cozy nap at home. The rest was bearstory.

...Too late.

After dating for a bit, Rachel and I decided to get married. To those who know the true story of that sentence observe that it is technically true. To those that don't -- ask later, and know that the important detail is we put ourselves on a 5-month timeline to get married and move our whole lives to a different state. We needed to get things moving quickly, but we couldn't really share the who, what, when and why until a ring was on the finger. We went ring shopping that week and picked up temporary ring for that weekend. By that weekend I mean our on-a-whim trip to Colorado. It seemed with the tight timeline we were looking at a simple proposal of necessity. But as a man of romance, I jumped at the chance to turn the mole hill proposal into something bigger. We traveled to the top of Pike's Peak and found our spot and shared a very special moment which we will most certainly return to some day. Hopefully with fewer clouds... and maybe when the cog rail we originally planned to go up on re-opens in 2 years. It was a wonderful moment for a Bear and a Boony and the reactions we got sharing the news with our friends were some of our favorites.

Since our engagement our lives have been a whirlwind of wedding planning, house hunting, loan gathering, deck building, song fighting, aaand spreadsheets. Through all the busyness I only see how well we work together and how glad I am we finally made the choice to become forevers. We are continually excited to pour out the many blessings God has given us onto others. Can't wait to get started, Love. (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH WE"RE GETTING MARRIED???)