We're Getting Married!

We took a trip to Naples, Florida for a work conference Greg had. The first thing we did once our plane landed was get our rental car and drive to the marina where we had reserved a boat. We packed a cooler with some sandwiches and set out for a fun day. We slowly cruised through the channels of Naples, enjoying the beautiful oceanfront properties and the hot Florida sun. Once we made our way out into the Gulf of Mexico, we took off fast across the water until we noticed a pod of dolphins swimming along with our boat. We came to a stop to watch them and decided to eat our sandwiches. After lunch Greg asked me to grab something from the cooler and when I turned around he was down on one knee with the ring. Because there were some waves he ended up on two knees before he could ask me to marry him. I was shocked and asked him if it was for real. I couldn't figure out how he got the dolphins to participate in his proposal. Truly romantic and memorable!

After moving from Minnesota to North Carolina in November 2017 for Greg's new position at Duke University, we have had many trips and family events that we have enjoyed! It had not felt like there was a good time to plan our wedding over the past few years. We decided to elope now and picked a date we both like: 10/20/2020. It will be much easier to plan a party in the future if we choose to, rather than trying to get everyone together now. Life goes on and we hope to celebrate with everyone soon! Because of the times we are living in, we secured an awesome place to get married during what would normally be peak wedding season in the Virginia mountains. We will be married by a woman named Karen who owns the Shadow Mountain Escape cabins with her husband Ralph. He built the timber-framed cabins by hand and they have decorated them in German and Italian countryside decor. We have asked our good friends Joseph Glime and Debora Burns-Glime to fly down from Minnesota to be there with us as we take our vows.