We were engaged on September 15, 2020 in Hot Springs, NC, at the top of Lover's Leap, one of our favorite hikes along the Appalachian Trail. We celebrated with a leisurely tube float down the French Broad River and many happy phone calls with family and friends. While being engaged during the pandemic certainly threw a wrench into wedding planning, it also provided great clarity about our desires for our future. So after a few months of engaged life, we decided that we didn't want to press pause on this next step in our lives together, and planned a courthouse wedding for the summer of 2021.

We wed in a small ceremony on June 11, 2021 with our parents in attendance (73 years to the day after Erin's grandparents Lewis and Virginia Schrecengost were married in 1948!). We exchanged vows by the Eno River and then walked over to the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, NC, for a ceremony with the magistrate. Afterwards, we hosted a reception for our little wedding party of eight at Vin Rouge, a French bistro around the corner from our house - where we had one of our first dates! The next day, we departed for a long weekend honeymoon in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, enjoying some rest, relaxation, and of course a good bike ride!