If you're one of our closer relations, you probably know "our deal"- the ones who grew up in the same claustrophobically small New England town and now do the guitar thing. But if you're one of the many extended family members who we haven't seen since Thanksgiving 1998 (if ever), this timeline is for you!

At this point, we've been together for almost a third of our lives (yes, Evi did the math). Although we're both aware that there was a time we didn't know each other, it's so long ago that neither of us can really remember it. There are many photographs of preschool graduations, kindergarten class trips to a big tree, and little league team lineups where we both feature, so the hard evidence that we must have interacted at some point is irrefutable. However, for two kids growing up less than a mile apart in a small town, we didn't really talk much until junior year of high school, when Gef joined the group that would spend Friday nights at Evi's house, making fresh pasta and watching Hayao Miyazaki films. After a year and a half of Lord of the Rings marathons (extended edition, of course), Latin projects, and elaborate mousse-based desserts, Evi decided that she didn't have much to lose, and told Gef that she was into him. While he was surprised (although no one else was), Gef also thought he didn't have much to lose.

For someone who usually over-thinks and over-plans, Evi really biffed this one big time. We knew that we were going to get married eventually, so in our Senior year of college (when various plans meant that we would be living apart for the first year post-grad) we decided to do the formal thing and get "engaged". Evi had many plans-great plans- but each was summarily tanked. The BioDome in Montreal? Full of a particularly violent and shriek-y batch of schoolchildren. Drive to Northampton and see the botanical garden? Stay-at-home advisory due to particularly windy and cold conditions. The Sol LeWitt gallery at Mass MoCA? Closed for an event. In the end, we ended up driving to Pittsfield to see the latest Star Wars movie and Evi proposed in the car, on Curran Highway, while blubbering and holding the nicest ring her teaching assistant paycheck could buy.

While we had expected to give our guests (and ourselves) plenty of time to prepare for a big family wedding, the COVID pandemic put things in perspective for us. We knew that if either one of us got sick, the other wouldn't have any legal rights to visit or care for the other in the hospital. So, ever the pragmatists, we decided to get hitched as soon as it was safe enough for a small gathering of people up on Lake Dunmore in Vermont, where Gef's grandmother has a small cabin that has been in the family for generations. Evi embroidered a hand-me-down dress and baked wild blueberry pies, using the berries we had picked with our "best people of honor", our dear friends from college Noah and Sophie. The other guests in attendance were our parents, and Gef's siblings and grandparents.

Because we grew up in the same town, most of the "family friends" portion of the guest list live within a few miles of each other in Williamstown. So last summer we had a hometown reception at Evi's parents' house, the site of many neighborhood Halloween and holiday parties in years past. Some Aunts/Uncles/Cousins also made it to town to celebrate with us!