As you may have seen, snacks and drinks will start at 3 p.m., dinner will be at 4 p.m. and desserts with toasts will occur close to 5 p.m. For best parking, be sure to use the entrance with balloons off of Bauer Road to enter Ore Creek Mountain Grill. At the event, we will have a champagne tower where you can grab a glass to save it for toasts! We also have Jumbo Jenga that we hope you will leave us a note on. A fun game of corn hole outside on the patio. We so look forward to seeing so many of our friends and family and hope you enjoy yourselves! Love, J + K

Second semester, junior year, Hope College. We both were in an environmental science lab course. The professor assigns lab groups by drawing slips of paper out of a box. And so the story goes... When Karey learned of her partner's name her friend sitting next to her mumbled under her breath a not-so-cheery "good luck." Karey's stomach dropped, he did not have a good lab partner reputation... This guy was not Jake. The following class period, Jake approached Karey and her lab partner and asked if she had heard that he was now in her group. Karey was elated to have an additional team member to save her from her bump-on-a-log partner. This is the part in the story where Jake likes to say that he convinced his previously assigned lab partner to drop the class because he knew he would be placed in Karey's group. Really, it was the luck of the draw. Jake and Karey spent the next month working as a team (with no help from Karey's original lab mate) to complete the project. When it was time to change lab groups, Karey thought surely the connection they had made would fade as it was only due to having a common grievance. But as the course continued we found ourselves seeking help with labs and studying together as frequently as possible. Eventually one particular study session lasted into the early hours of the morning-- the memorable 4 a.m. night. We sat in a computer lab and talked about everything under the sun until 4 a.m., finalizing our first real date: Ice cream from Captain Sundae.

We took an impromptu trip to Holland early March of 2020. We decided that it was a good time to get out of town during Jake's spring break and lined up well enough to celebrate our second anniversary. On the drive there, we planned out our evening: We would go on a walk through Hope's campus, have a meal at our favorite restaurant, and definitely spend time at our favorite bar in town. Unfortunately, this weekend was also the "Girlfriend's Weekend" in Holland and many of the reservations were taken at our favorite restaurant. This left us with little time upon arriving in town to when we needed to make it to the restaurant. Karey had just gotten off work, and frankly, desperately needed a shower. This meant there would be no time for a "stroll" through campus. Karey, having no idea about the importance of this walk was even trying to convince Jake that the walk could be taken the following day. It was suppose to be sunnier and warmer! But nope, Jake was adamant that it would be best to take a walk after dinner. So with full bellies we began the short walk from town into campus. As we went by the science center where we spent so many hours together, Karey felt Jakes hand tighten. It was when we were under the beautiful Hope College archway next to stunning Dimnent Chapel, Graves Hall, and Voorhees Hall that Jake got on one knee. It was perfect, really. The sun was setting, his words were beautiful, and campus was empty. We spent the rest of the night celebrating together, running into old friends, and splurging on craft beer, fancy cocktails, and a new sweatshirt as a token of our wonderful night.

Honestly and ideally, we would have liked to get married this past August in 2020. However, with seemingly all of life's events put on hold due to the pandemic, we decided we, too, would wait for it all to blow over. As the months passed, with no end of Covid in sight, we decided that we would get married very simply with our parents, grandparents, and siblings (that could make it) surrounding us. It was both a challenging and simple decision. We would have loved to have everyone of you with us but ultimately, we just cared about getting married. We would have a larger celebration later! So, we got married on 2021 in our church in Holt, Michigan. We are looking forward to celebrating with more of our family and friends in August! We will be providing updates on this site to make sure we safely celebrate our marriage. That being said, we understand that these are weird and sometimes frightening times. If you do not feel comfortable with gathering or our decision to come together, it's okay. We respect your decision to do what you feel is safe for yourself and the ones you care for or come in contact with.