Greeting Beloved Family and Friends, It saddens us to inform everyone that we will have to indefinitely cancel our wedding event as it was initially planned. As we all know, the presence and threat of COVID is still real in our communities. With many of our guests being high risk and others being unable to travel we felt it best to not attempt a large gathering. Due to Maryland’s phase 2 status, many restrictions would also be placed upon the event itself that we felt would diminish the enjoyment of those who would be able to attend despite the risks. It was our dream to have a celebration where everyone could participate and celebrate the unity of our families. Due to our circumstances, we believe that materializing this vision would not be currently possible. Instead, we will be performing a very small ceremony for our immediate family. We will do our best to stream this smaller event so that everyone can still be involved at some capacity. The ceremony itself will still be held on 7/22/20 at 2pm (Details for streaming will be distributed). It is our intention to have a celebration at a later date that we can all attend and enjoy fully without endangering anyone. Unfortunately, the day when we can successfully do that remains unknown to us all. However, that day will come nevertheless, and when it does we can’t wait to see you all there! Thank you all for your understanding, support, and love throughout this whole ordeal. We love you all and stay safe, Marcus and Cherisse

Cherisse and Marcus first crossed paths when they both were enrolled in a statistics class. Marcus easily noticed her during lecture on the first day of class being that she was far away and the most beautiful girl there. He soon discovered that they shared the same lab section of the class. In an effort to spark some kind of connection he changed his seat the following class to be next to her. Some small talk was exchanged over the course of several weeks. At first Cherisse was quiet and a little distant to the strange possible suitor that seemed to not care that she had her headphones in when he choose to start talking to her. His motives were unclear as he never asked for her phone number but clearly exhibited feelings beyond platonic. Marcus began walking Cherisse to her part-time job on the campus farm after every class and a real friendship developed. At the end of the semester Marcus walked her to the farm one last time. He never expected that Cherisse would give him the time of day and he was still unclear if she even enjoyed his company, but he was glad he had at least tried. When saying goodbye he gave her what he thought would be their first and only hug. Marcus would return to Virginia after graduating expecting to never hear from Cherisse Mathis again… But about a month later Cherisse found Marcus on Facebook and they began to reconnect. They realized they had more in common than they originally thought. Marcus decided that she was worth the two hour drive back to Maryland to see their chemistry was still real in person. This would be the best decision he ever made in his life. He knew this was real and special when for their second date they simply worked on her homework in the library for 8 hours and it was the most fun he had had in months. Many more amazing dates and adventures later the two have become more than friends, but two halves of a whole.