David and Katherine met in Ithaca, New York during the height of the COVID pandemic, when Katherine was a second year veterinary student and David just started his PhD program. All social interactions were online at the time and so was their first chat, and then they met in person. Katherine is from China, and David is from France, and they both came to live in the U.S. in their late teens. Despite the different upbringings, they had a lot to talk about. David was surprised that Katherine knew about the High Holidays, and Katherine was amused by David's college stories. After they met for the first time, they quickly decided that they wanted to see each other again. They went on many hikes together (there was no lack of mountains in upstate New York), and got to know each other more. They went to David's sister's graduation together (thank you Dalia!), where Katherine met David's parents and siblings. David's mother bought a pair of matching animal shirt for them, and it started a trend of matching shirts. They became known as the couple with matching shirts in the family (you can count how many pairs they have in the photos in Gallery). After meeting David's family in the U.S., it was time for Katherine to meet David's family in France. However, she needed a visa to go to France, but she must renew her U.S. visa first. Going back to China to renew the visa was not an option due to the pandemic. They traveled to Orlando, Florida, to get a visa to Mexico, and then traveled to Mexico together to renew Katherine's U.S. visa. It was their first time traveling outside of the U.S. together. Neither of them speaks Spanish, and there were a lot of uncertainties in the visa application process, but Katherine successfully got her visa and later a Schengen visa to travel to France. As a Chinese author Qian Zhongshu has said, if a couple has traveled together for a month and still have positive views of each other, they are bound to last forever - and it was surely the case. Since then, they have gone on many trips together. Katherine traveled to Poland to visit David during his field research, and David also visited China to meet Katherine's parents, and they went to Israel together for the first time. In September 2022, David and Katherine got engaged at Taughannock Falls, where they had their first hike - also one of their favorite hiking places near Ithaca. On the snowy February 25th, 2023, under the typical iron gray sky of Ithaca, they were civilly married at the beautiful and frozen Ithaca Falls accompanied by David's families and Katherine's parents on video. Now, they have the honor to have their wedding ceremony under the chuppah with your presence.