Love is in the air.

In Steph's own words...Gus and I met on March 15, 2019, in Palo Alto. Despite living almost 150 miles apart, we'd matched on a dating app (thanks Hinge) and happened to start corresponding that morning. Our conversation was going so well online that we decided to meet-up in person that same day at a little coffee shop near my office since Gus happened to be (conveniently!) down on the Peninsula that day for work. Our conversation was sweet, comfortable, and fun--much like our relationship dynamic. Gus, who I found out the next day uses his given name Karl for his work and photography site (hello confusing nickname) is a gentle giant at 6'6" with the purest heart I know. We bonded over travel stories and our shared fortune of living in the beautiful country of Italy and quickly found we had a lot more in common like our values, deep love of nature, and desire to serve the greater good. Gus is a US Air Force Veteran who recently started a new career in IT Systems Engineering and I work in Organizational Effectiveness consulting, making the world a better place one human-centered change at a time. Most of our favorite things to do together involve spending time outside. Recently, we've been getting more and more into star-gazing and constellations and we especially love hiking, exploring the mountains, coastlines, waterfalls, and river-trails all the while working on capturing the landscapes with our cameras as well as chipping away at our bucket list of travels, learning, and other adventures!

Getting creative was a theme of 2020 for us! Starting the year with wedding planning, venue-hunting, + cake tasting (a highlight), our original plan was to be married November 7th, 2020 in the Oakland temple with a ring ceremony at Mills College chapel followed by a large reception for friends + family. Alas, as we all know, plans changed in 2020 when county restrictions and safety measures expanded with the pandemic. We regrouped, talked, and prayed about what to do. The 2-hour distance from San Jose to Sacramento was becoming more difficult for us and we knew our aim in deciding to get married was simply to be together. So, with the high likelihood of continued closures, we changed our plans to opt for a small civil ceremony. We decided on July 11th, 2020 as our new wedding date with the hope that our 11/7 temple sealing would still take place (more on that later). 7/11 and 11/7—cute right? After a lucky road trip to Utah, Steph found her wedding dress on May 11th (birthday!) with her mom and with help from a few very loving and talented people, we were able to prepare all other aspects to make our little wedding beautiful, safe, and special. When Saturday 7/11 arrived, it was a hot, sunny day in Steph’s parents’ backyard with a little group of immediate family + a couple of close friends for the wedding. While intimate in person, we were thankful to connect with many loved ones on Zoom to share the special words, vows, and ceremony performed by Bishop Robert Brigham, from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We also enjoyed beautiful wedding flowers (favorites by our family friend Kathy!), special borrowed/DIY decorations around the backyard, and a family meal “al fresco” with memorable toasts followed by a homemade Italian summer spread. Other personal touches, like our chocolate-chip cookie-dough wedding cake made by talented friend Andrea, rounded out our little wedding with the love and joy of being together at last.

After the wedding-day heat wave, we spent a few days with cool ocean breezes for our a "mini" moon. Gus surprised Stephanie by booking and making all the honeymoon preparations secretly at The Sanctuary Beach Resort in Marina, CA. Highlights included relaxing by our hotel room fireplace while looking out at the ocean, roasting evening s'mores at the beach, and exploring outdoors nearby at Big Sur, Carmel, and Monterey. We did the 17-mile drive, snapping great photos of the scenery and sea otters, enjoyed picnicking in Point Lobos state park, and biking along the beach. Although amenities and access were limited due to continued closures at most places in California, when in a beautiful place with access to the ocean, landscapes, and your favorite person we found we had no problem enjoying ourselves on a much needed vacation from daily stresses and demands.

As we approached our original wedding date, 11/7/2020, we felt so excited as the Oakland Temple was on the brink of re-opening for the first time in 8 months. Our local church leaders rallied to help us prepare and be in contact with the temple president for all the new Covid-19 safety procedures and--while we could only have a small group of 10 with us--things were lining up for Gus to be the first member to receive his Endowment in the Oakland temple since February and for us to then be sealed that same day on Saturday November 7th. On Friday night, we had everything prepared for the special day and had just completed our final "zoom interview" with the temple coordinator in preparation for our AM Endowment session and afternoon Sealing. On top of that, we were excited at Hawaii's reopening for travel so we could keep our original honeymoon reservation for the following week. It was all coming together and happening after all! But, to our dismay, that very same Friday evening we received our 72-hour rapid Covid test for our trip and although Stephanie's results were negative (as expected), when Gus checked his results, the record said he had tested positive for Covid-19! Steph thought Gus was joking when he told her. Perplexed, disappointed, and honestly shocked-- we immediately called our medical provider to see how soon we could retest, since the likelihood of one of us contracting the virus and not the other was unfathomable (we are together 24/7!). Although we were saddened to do so, we called the Temple President and let him know that out of caution if there were any chance we did have Covid-19, that we would need to postpone our sealing so as not to put anyone in danger of exposure. Of course, a couple of days later we did find out that the test was incorrect. Though not nearly as important to us as the temple, we were grateful to salvage our honeymoon trip to Hawaii to relax + enjoy time together on Oahu (especially to be at Pearl Harbor on Veteran's day.)