We're Getting Married!

Ivy and Michael met where everyone meets their future spouse - in high school gym class. After a first date that consisted of driving around town for an hour before getting ice cream, we knew there was something special about our connection. For the rest of our high school lives, that connection only grew stronger. Eventually, it became the worst-kept secret that we were going to get married. Heading to college meant heading to two different schools in two different time zones. We only saw each other twice each semester, usually for just a weekend at a time. It was tough, but well worth it. On the especially hard days, we always told each other we were “one day closer” to forever. We moved down to the Gulf Coast in the fall of 2019, nearly six years after we met, to start our adult lives together. Blessed with warm, southern weather almost year-round, Ivy was confused as to why we would spend a March weekend in Chicago, where the high temperatures never got out of the 30s. But, as always, Michael had a plan. They were going to walk and meet up with their parents “to go to the zoo." On a "family weekend" in Chicago, on a 25-degree day, after a mile-and-a-half walk, Ivy (somehow) had no suspicion that worst-kept-secret was about to become reality, until she turned to see Michael on a knee with the city in the background. Our parents emerged from their secret hiding spots, and the champagne-filled celebration began. Almost ten years after that first date, we can’t wait to celebrate with all of you.