On October 8, 2023, we gathered with our immediate family members for a private wedding ceremony under the trees at Tyler Arboretum ♥ Use the menu above to see wedding photos, highlights, and more!

The moment our paths first crossed was at a literal street intersection near the steps of the historic Chester County Courthouse. Jess was leading a group lobbying for climate action, and Don was walking back to his office at the time where he worked with governmental leaders to serve local communities. It wasn’t a normal route for Don, but in a serendipitous moment, we had a brief but memorable interaction. Cards were exchanged, and comments of support - regarding the value and importance of each other's efforts - were shared. Over the years, our paths continued to cross time and time again. In a surprise to absolutely no one, our busy schedules kept us from seeing one another consistently despite the mutual interest to do so. (We deeply admire each other’s dedication to our work and to serving others ♥) Until March 2019: we grabbed dinner after an environmental event of Jess’s. We had only intended to catch up, but moments quickly turned into hours. We were shocked to notice we were closing down the place. That’s when we realized this was something special, and we didn’t want our paths to cross only by chance any longer.

Fast forward several months into dating: Jess was doing her due diligence and diving deep into Don’s social media, when we realized that our paths had initially crossed far earlier than we recognized. As it turned out, years before we thought we had first met, we were both at a ribbon cutting for a new solar-powered trash can! Yep, that’s right - a trash can. (Every little bit counts ☺) Jess was one of the photographers for the event and unknowingly had pictures of Don saved on her computer for years!

Since then, we’ve survived the pandemic together in a studio apartment, camped across the country out of Jess’s hatchback, hiked and explored our hearts out, and created so many memories. We’ve built a life together with our adorable beagle Jax, mostly out of Phoenixville and now Downingtown, PA - with some considerable time spent in the forests of northeastern PA fixing up Jess's family cabin. Our story is one of chance meetings - brief interactions held over the course of many years – all thanks to our mutual interests and values. Our paths intersected and then parted ways, first with lengthy multi-year gaps in between that shortened into several months and then weeks – until the awareness set in that mere days of separation between each meeting was undesirable. We are grateful for the journey that brought us together, the history of chance that transformed flashes of interaction to memorable moments of a shared life. Now, we welcome you to join us in celebration as we commit to a new path - one with the joint realization that even a lifetime together will never be enough ♥