Turns out that planning a wedding during a global pandemic isn't a fun or easy thing to do. To reduce everyone's risk of exposure to the coronavirus, we have made the difficult decision to limit our upcoming wedding day to immediate family and wedding party only. Believe us when we say that we would prefer to have all of our friends and family there... but we would rather keep everyone healthy and safe this year so that we can celebrate with you all next year! We will be filming the ceremony, taking plenty of photos, and sharing our special day however we can so that you're not missing too much. We promise to keep it nice and boring so that the real party can begin when you all can be there with us! Details are still in the works and we will send off a second save-the-date, but we will hope to host a reception around the same time next year, and you are cordially invited! In the meantime, you can read the prologue of the C+E Story, as well as get a preview of what the next few chapters have in store for our heroes.

They both worked at Barnes & Noble in Madison, WI—Caitlin in the Children's section, and Eric in their digital department. As Eric tells it, each day he would diligently help customers with an assortment of device or book questions while Caitlin pined for him from the staircase, loudly sighing and shooing away patrons. The two soon began to meet each other at coffee shops to work on homework (her) and applications (him). Yet fortune can be a fickle thing. Both received great news: Eric was offered an exciting position working at an association management firm in downtown Madison while Caitlin was offered a Children's Librarian position... in Farmington, New Mexico. These were the opportunities they were working towards since graduating, but accepting the positions meant bringing their story to an end. The two worked hard at their new jobs and harder at moving on. But it soon became apparent that the latter was easier said than done. Simple check-in messages turned into rambling evening phone calls under the stars. When Caitlin realized that she still wanted to be with our handsome hero, she wrote him a 7-page love letter (that was only 6 pages because English Majors) and the two decided to make the long-distance relationship work. By then, Caitlin was looking to return to the Midwest. Fortune decided to right their course, as Caitlin was soon offered the youth services position at the Oconomowoc Public Library. With her moving 1,300 miles to be with him, the least Eric could do was move 50 miles and find a place and a job of his own in Lake Country. Our young heroine and her bumbling-yet-charming sidekick had a number of wacky adventures involving cats, walking on (several) frozen lakes, and their ever-pedestrian love of farmers' markets. It was just a matter of time before those ominous wedding bells began to ring true.

The story of how Eric finally popped the question is equal-parts hilarious and awkward, and 1,000% better told in person or over the phone. So instead, here is a brief and embarrassment-free summary of how it all went down. When Eric and Caitlin decided to reunite and give this whole "love" thing another go, Eric decided to surprise Caitlin with a trip to see Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the American Players Theater in Spring Green, WI. 5 years later, when the young lovebirds returned to APT to see Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," Eric not-so-nervously and quite eloquently professed his love to his sweetheart, asking for her hand on the same wooded paths that brought them together. (Spoiler: She said Yes.)

So what adventures will our young heroes face post-wedding? Well, as we renegotiate contracts with vendors in the midst of a global pandemic, we have also been house hunting! It's an incredibly tough market, but we are hoping to find a home (or duplex) here in the next few weeks. After that, we plan on taking a five-second breather, get settled for just a little bit, and then officially begin the adoption process! We both believe that there are plenty of children in the world who need a good home, and once someone actually accepts our offer on a house, we hope to provide that opportunity. Otherwise, we are hoping to get more involved with the community that we end up in, get in way over our heads with gardens and home projects, and continue to get into all sorts of trouble and crazy shenanigans. (We are very good at that.)