Mary and Jack met like many college students did in the fall of 2014: they matched on Tinder. Jack complimented her new haircut, and the two made plans for a meet-up at the Starbucks on Notre Dame’s campus. Their coffee date extended hours into the night as the two bonded over art, volleyball, and ‘80s music: George Michael and the Smiths for Mary, Prince and the Clash for Jack. At midnight he walked her to the bus stop and kissed her goodbye. Fireworks went off, music swelled, the whole package. They were smitten. The new couple met each other’s friends on campus, went to football games and hall dances, and broke parietals to stay in each other’s dorms. (It helped that Mary was an RA herself.) Perhaps too encouraged by their similar sense of humor, they started doing stand-up comedy in the campus club where they met officiant Liz Hynes. That summer, Mary made many trips from South Bend to Chicago on the South Shore line so she could see Jack. The following school year, Jack spent a semester in London, and Mary flew to join him for fall break, her first time on a plane. They saw a Johnny Marr concert, walked Abbey Road, and celebrated her 21st birthday in a London pub where its significance fell on deaf ears. They took the Eurostar to Paris to see the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, and a Cinematheque Francaise exhibit on fellow tortured Catholic Martin Scorsese. Jack and Mary's exciting junior year was suddenly put on hold when they were in a severe car accident in April 2016. Their life-threatening injuries landed them in the ICU where they were in and out of consciousness and the OR. Unable to walk themselves, nurses wheeled Mary and Jack into each other’s rooms so they could visit. They were hospitalized for one month and used wheelchairs for the summer. Jack and Mary recovered thanks to boundless love and support shown by doctors, nurses, professors, priests, friends, and family. Go Belles, and Go Irish! Mary and Jack were back on their feet for the start of their senior year and graduated from Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame in the spring of 2017. That summer, Jack started his career in digital advertising in downtown Chicago while commuting from his hometown of Palatine. Mary moved to Chicago for her first semester of grad school at Columbia College. After a few lonely weeks in her studio apartment, she visited the Catcade and brought home Bella, a stray calico from Texas. They’ve been best friends ever since. Jack and Mary embraced their new life in Chicago and all its opportunities: going to concerts big and small, spending easy weekends at coffee shops and record stores, attending music festivals and museum openings, meeting otters at the Shedd Aquarium, and growing their circle of IL friends. In 2020, Mary graduated from Columbia with her MFA and moved into Jack’s Ravenswood apartment with Bella. Nothing else of note happened. In November 2022, after shopping for engagement rings as a couple in Oak Park, Jack proposed in their neighborhood on a beautiful autumn night. Mary said yes, and they celebrated over dinner at a local French restaurant on the patio under the string lights. The Irish fans were rewarded with an unexpected yet decisive Notre Dame victory over Clemson later that weekend. It's a love story almost ten years in the making, and we can't wait to celebrate with you all!