We can't wait to celebrate with you!

We met at a Friendsgiving party in 2016, brought together by two friends who fancied themselves matchmakers. After a brave drunken text and three weeks of waiting while Morgan was back in Chicago finishing up her semester of medical school, we had our first date at Brews Brothers Tap Room. We learned a lot about each other that night, including that we are extremely mediocre as a two-man trivia team. With Zach living in Carbondale and Morgan in Chicago, the first few months of the relationship consisted of texts and FaceTime with a few weekend trips traveling I-57. After the end of the spring semester, we were able to spend a month together in Carbondale while Morgan studied for exams (as usual). In between practice questions and fire department shifts, we spent as much time together as possible. The next few years were again spent traveling between Carbondale and Chicago, until Zach was deployed to Kuwait for the longest six months in history. Although it was difficult, we believe we came out of it stronger and ready to move forward with the next phase of our lives. We were really getting tired of the whole long distance situation, but luckily Morgan matched in St. Louis for her OB/GYN residency! What used to be a 5 hour drive was now less than half of that, and that shortened even more when Zach was hired at the Belleville Fire Department. After three years of long distance, we finally made St Louis our home and even adopted our furry feline friend, Chester. It's been a long, sometimes hard, but always exciting journey, and we are so excited to share our special day with you!

It was Halloween (which was already Morgan's favorite holiday and is now cemented as such), and we were headed to our friend's house to hang by the fire pit and hand out candy to socially distanced trick-or-treaters. As Morgan came down the stairs, Zach asked "Where's your costume?" Since it's a rare occasion when Morgan is not in scrubs, she replied "What do you mean? I'm dressed cute! That's my costume!" Zach laughed and said, "Oh... well I thought we would go as a married couple." Morgan started laughing but quickly realized it wasn't a joke when he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. She said yes immediately and we began calling family and friends (about half of which also thought we were pulling their legs at first!). We spent the rest of the night celebrating with friends and enjoying the newly-engaged bliss. The whole thing was just as cheesy as we are, and we couldn't imagine any better way to start the next phase of life together!