We owe it all to our dear friend Katherine Seaton. In 2011, Katherine and Conor (along with many members of our wedding party) studied abroad together in Morocco where they often enjoyed hot dog paninis and strawberry yogurt. After returning to the States, the study abroad crew regularly gathered at Katherine, Andrew Clark, and Erica's infamous house located at 221 Seaton Place. When Conor met Erica, he had a BIG crush on her. Erica, unfortunately, did not remember meeting Conor the first two or three times they interacted. But when she did finally re-re-re-introduce herself at a Christmas party in 2013, she was very impressed with how smart and kind he was. Over the next several months, they got to know each other at house parties, musical theater nights at JR's in Dupont, and at an infamous Argonaut bottomless brunch that lasted roughly 12 hours. Somewhere between Conor introducing Erica as a friend of a friend and a moonshine fueled house party for Ramya's birthday where Erica proclaimed that she was "ride-or-die," they made it official. The rest, as they say, is history.

After four years of dating, two of which we spent living in a 500 square foot apartment with no bedroom walls, we decided that we must've really, really liked each other. Knowing for sure that Conor had found his person, he picked out a ring and staked out a location in one of Erica's favorite places in DC - the National Arboretum. Conor relied on friend and future wedding officiant, Doug Farley, to invite them to a picnic where Doug promised to bring his famous pimento cheese dip. Conor had scoped out and selected the perfect spot - a secluded overlook of the Anacostia River to which he planned to uber them directly. What Conor hadn't accounted for was Erica's stubborn insistence that they walk to the arboretum in the interest of health and finances. After a spirited back and forth during which Erica suggested she might just meet him there, Conor threw a Hail Mary and feigned a grave foot injury. So, we took an uber. A few minutes after arriving, it became clear that Doug (and that cheese dip) wasn't coming. Both of us were very nervous and we tried and failed to make normal conversation. After a brief and unexpected sidebar about the movie we watched the night before, Conor mustered up the the courage to ask Erica to marry him. She handled it with her typical grace. It was the best day ever.