We're married! Now let’s party!

We love all of you, and wanted to ensure we didn’t put anyone's health at risk by having a huge event during the outbreak of Covid in 2020. We've been waiting 609 days for the big celebration with our friends and family. It's going to be a BIG party! The vaccinations are rolling out and can’t wait to celebrate with everyone on August 12, 2022.

We met when we were both getting off a plane in Seattle. Both headed to the same sales conference, but it was my first day with company. We both remember that moment. We did not, however, start dating for about another year.

Fast forward to October, 2018, when we sat down at Rare in Milwaukee for a happy hour (after Jeff’s many requests for this to happen). It was there he told me how he felt. We both knew we wanted to be more. We set the details for our first date. On November 1st, 2018, our first date! As Jeff drove home from work that evening, he couldn’t help but be a little nervous about the upcoming date and asked his parents for a sign that he was on the right path. A car with 143 on the plate pulled in front of him on his way home. (More about the significance of 143 to come.) A dinner at Parkside 23 started it all.

We headed to Tomah celebrate my mom’s birthday on March 28, 2019. Jeff asked me to give him the directions to my hometown. It was his first-time meeting a lot of family members (he’d only met my parents) and may be have been a bit nervous. As I gave him the directions (obviously on memory), he was in disbelief – the exit number was 143.

There are so many times throughout our time together that the number 143 has shown up. So, when the event we signed up to attend on December 11th, 2019 had the street address of 143, Jeff decided that would be the night to propose. (Also, coincidentally, December 11th is my parents wedding anniversary – he had no idea.) He brought up the idea of eating dinner at Rare before our event, the same location of that first happy hour where he told me how he felt. I had no idea what he had planned for the evening as we had eaten there or grabbed drinks there many times. After dinner, we headed back to the car, which also happened to be parked in the same area where we had kissed goodnight that very first night after the happy hour. Discovery World was apparently having a gala of some kind that evening, which threw off Jeff’s plan a bit since there were now valets sprinting through the area. We got in the car to leave for the event (a centerpiece making class) and he pulled out his phone to show me the address of the place to which we were headed. It took a bit of prodding, but then I understood. The numerical portion of the street address was 143. When I looked up, the ring box was out, then opened. It was an emotional moment with both of us nodding and crying. Do you know what 143 means? 1 stands for the letter I, 4 stands for the word love, and 3 stands for the word you. 143 = I love you. Jeff found out what 143 meant when sifting through the many cards his parents had exchanged to each other over the years. For those that don’t know, both of his parents (Keith and Sheila Christiansen) have passed. So many cards signed to each other with this token of affection and so many signs of their love along our path to finding a love like ours.

Our wedding day ended up being not at all like we had originally planned. A very small gathering in light of Covid on a very warm and sunny day in Brookfield, Wisconsin. We are thankful to those that gathered with us despite the risks involved and for those that were able to join us via the livestream to watch us say our "I do's."