We're Getting Married!

It was May 3rd, 2010. Laura was nearing the end of her Freshman year at UW-Eau Claire and sang with the Women’s Concert Chorale. She decided to go to the Singing Statesmen Spring Concert with some Wocettes, and afterwards heard about a house party with some choir members. She was recently single and ready to mingle, so took the opportunity to meet some new people! At the party she noticed lots of cute choir boys, but her friends steered her in direction of a certain tall, red-haired Sophomore Statesmen named Joe. Though they met amidst the chaos of a “Statesmen Slam”, they hit it off, exchanged numbers, and continued to talk, but didn’t start dating for two more years! More on that later ;)

It was December 2011. Joe and the UWEC Concert Choir were embarking on an international tour to Greece, and though this was Joe’s second international tour, he was extra excited for this one because he knew it meant a chance to spend more time with a certain Soprano 2 he really liked. Joe took every chance he could to sit by Laura on the tour bus and get to know her better, and they had a lot of fun goofing off and making memories with their choir family. They spent a lot of time together on the tour, going on a couple mini-dates around Nafplio and getting gyros, and Joe knew he had found someone special. When they got back stateside, it was time to start getting ready for Cabaret and school to start again, but for Joe it was also time to ask Laura to be his main squeeze.

Joe and Laura dated through college and graduated from UWEC in spring of 2013. After school Laura moved to St. Paul to pursue Americorps and graduate school, while Joe stayed in Eau Claire to continue working and performing. Dating long-distance was hard, but Joe visited every weekend he could, and fortunately it was only for one year. They decided to move in together and got their first apartment at the Schmidt Lofts in St. Paul in 2014. Living together for the first time had its challenges, and in a new city no less, but they supported and helped each other and began coexisting very well. They liked living together so much they later moved to Minneapolis and in 2017 bought a house together in South Minneapolis! Soon after that they took one of their annual trips up to the North Shore, and Joe knew that the time was right. He knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Laura, and had recently purchased a ring after asking the blessing of Laura's parents. This was one of Laura's favorite spots on Earth and the September weather was still pleasantly mild. After a nice day of perusing Duluth, hiking, and scenic drives, they went out to a lake-side fire outside their cabin. There Joe popped the question, and Laura excitedly said "Yes!"