A lot of people have asked why we are having our wedding in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana and not in Amsterdam where we have been living for the last 3 years, or in New Orleans where we lived for 10 years. This is a special place to us because this is where we fell in love. Or at least, where our love finally took root (after quite a few years of tomfoolery). Some say there isn't much nature around New Orleans. However, our favorite natural landscape of all is in Louisiana. To us, you just can’t beat the swamp. And Southern Louisiana itself is essentially one big swamp. So you just have to drive out of New Orleans and towards the water. And you should probably get a boat. We often talked of buying a boat together, even before we officially started dating. During COVID, we finally did get a boat together, aptly named KathaRyanShipDer. We spent the next few years taking it (and our friends) around Louisiana, into the swamps and lakes, spending days in the sun, Ryan getting sunkissed and Kate getting sunburnt, drinking beer and frozen daiquiris, fishing, and cooking what we caught for dinner — if we actually caught anything. Mostly we just enjoyed being together on our boat, with Ryan as captain and Kate as passenger princess. Our favorite place to be was Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge, followed very closely by the Atchafalaya Basin. We loved to hitch KathaRyanShipDer up to Ryan's '94 Chevy Suburban (Kate made him get a car big enough to carry friends along with the boat), head west, stop for Billy's Boudin and Cracklins along the way, and then rent a little cabin or yurt somewhere for the weekend. Breaux Bridge is the crawfish capital of the world. Many of our nights would end with us swatting mosquitos and eating several pounds of the best crawfish. It’s also where we learned about the magic that is crawfish dipping sauce. We are grateful that we have the chance to bring it back to where it began, and say our vows by Lake Martin. AND we get to take you all out on the Atchafalaya Basin for a proper swamp tour the night before. We know everyone coming to this wedding traveled a distance to get here, and we appreciate you making the journey to see this very special place. P.S. They say the best two days in a boat owner's life are when they buy their boat and when they sell their boat…. So consider this as an advertisement for our boat because we’ve still only had that first best day in a boat owner’s life. Let’s make a deal.