Tess Niehoff and Christopher Leininger one day decided "what's a party theme we haven't yet done....how about 'hot dogs from around the world?!'" The theme was set, the hot dogs were grilled, and their mutual friends, including Andrew and Alexa, arrived. Alexa befriended Tess senior year of high school, and Tess found friendship with Andrew in engineering school at University of Maryland. Alexa and Andrew almost didn't come to this party- Alexa was about to leave again in another week for her second year of graduate school 5 hours away in Virginia...and Andrew wasn't quite feeling up to it that day. But, the stars and hot dogs aligned- and they found that they were really two peas in a pod. Their first date was just a few days later at Earth Treks, where Alexa pretended to be brave; and a cameo was made by now best friends Mike Der and Beatrice Garcia. After some climb time, the pair scurried to a Panda Express for some late night grub. The employees realized a first date was occurring; but sheepishly eventually kicked them out. They then migrated back to the Earth Treks parking lot for a few hours of conversation in camping chairs. They talked music, careers, and everything in between. Andrew trekked to Radford University to visit Alexa one weekend in October...and when the goodbye was just too hard that Sunday- he realized he needed to come visit again in another 5 days. That's when they knew it was worth the tough distance to be together. Now it is 2024. Two apartments shared, one home purchased, two dogs adopted, 7 countries visited, countless concerts/festivals attended, a zillion rock walls climbed- and so much more to look forward to as a couple. We cannot wait to celebrate with you all, and thank you for being a part of our journey!