We'd love to celebrate our marriage with you!

Our lives consist of many adventures that we share with family via social media (mostly Sandy's), but a little known fact is that we originally met through OKCupid. Most of our family and friends know that we are both homebodies, so that may not be too surprising! We first began talking in December 2015 while we were both at home on winter break (Josh from grad school, Sandy from teaching). We hit it off and had our first date in January of 2016 after we both returned to Raleigh/Durham!

The beginning of our relationship was full of interesting and laughable moments. Meeting on our first date, the restaurant waitress somehow ended up between us in a narrow aisle - instead of a hug, we just awkwardly waved at each other from five feet away and sat down. On our third date, we stayed at a Panera until closing and did a privilege "walk", where we talked about normal date things like our experiences with religion, discrimination, and race. Somehow when we were together nothing felt too awkward or embarrassing, and there was always more to talk about - we lost track of time and got kicked out of a place closing more than once. This set a strong foundation for our relationship, where communication and trust are valued the most. Since then, we've had 3 years of exciting date adventures such as falling asleep through every movie, eating Chinese food on the floor, and grading papers during date nights while the other plays video games.

Two adventures that Sandy has always wanted in life was to visit Ireland and the beautiful experience of owning a dog. Josh has consistently denied Sandy the right to a dog (someday!) but we did finally visit Ireland in August 2019. As soon as the trip was booked, Sandy was hopeful that Josh would use this opportunity to propose. But by day 7, with no hint of a ring, Sandy had given up hope that a proposal would happen. Little did she know that Josh had just been waiting for the perfect opportunity - unfortunately Ireland isn't exactly known for its clear weather. The stars aligned and the rain clouds parted on day 8 while we were overlooking Healy Pass - a beautiful valley. Sandy said yes and now we're planning our next adventure!