“I don’t think that’s a great idea” was Lauren’s ever so direct response to James when he asked her out on a date in early 2017. By this time, a friendship that was spawned first on a sunny Labor Day trip to Cape Cod at the start of their second year of business school had bloomed into something more – a point where neither of them would have necessarily expected, but perhaps both had hoped. Perhaps enraptured by that Aussie accent, Lauren eventually relented to that first date, and while neither of them remember where it happened, James meeting Lauren’s parents around the same time is where their relationship really began. “He’s a friend from school – he’s going to stay with us in LA since he has some interviews here” is how Lauren introduced James to her parents, Rick and Rita, in that ever so direct manner that was starting to grow on him. Lauren flew out of LA back to Boston a day earlier than James on that trip, while he stayed on an extra night. Unbeknownst at the time to Lauren; Rick, Rita and James all went out to dinner together with Rick’s friend Larry, a single real estate developer from Las Vegas, who insisted that James explain to Lauren’s parents how dating apps work and how great they are for single guys to find girls. “He seems nice. Just be careful of those Australian men…” was Rita’s sage and maternalistic feedback to Lauren after that first encounter together. Lauren and James graduated together from Harvard Business School in May 2017 and while San Francisco had never been at the top of James’s list for places to move, he set out to find a way to keep his status in the US lawful in the City on the Bay, where Lauren was already planning to move. After a few months in LA, James found a role in SF working with Alex Bernstein and while this brought James and Lauren to the same city, she was ever so directly insistent that they not move in together since she had a “sick setup” with her girls from Princeton. A few months later when a few of the girls moved out, Lauren insisted that they now move in together – ever so directly. In March 2018 Lauren and James moved in together at 2090 Pacific, where they would live together for almost four years, and which would become home to many important milestones in their relationship. James taught Lauren to ski. Lauren taught James to rebound for her. James learnt about Lauren’s complex dairy allergy which precludes her having any dairy except fine cheeses, butter if it’s in exceptional pasta, and cream unless it’s whipped on a cake. Lauren learnt that when James’s Godparents, Jan and Rick (his best man) come to visit, to expect to have wine paired with every course of every meal. After ~3.5 years together, which included surviving both a global pandemic and several Edwards family Christmases and Thanksgivings, James knew Lauren was the one. In early December 2020 he called Rick in Hawaii to ask for his blessing. “Oh – you’re kind of young, aren’t you?” Rick quipped back in that ever so direct manner James had become all too used to. With the same graciousness they had shown on that first night together in LA, Rick and Rita welcomed James in their family. With the help of Lauren’s friend, Lauren “LP” Polansky (one of her bridesmaid’s) James planned an elaborate girls’ weekend rouse to surprise Lauren with a trip to Calistoga for their engagement weekend, where he popped the question in their hotel room over a breakfast of blueberry pancakes and champagne. While Lauren still to this day has yet to forgive him for “ruining girls’ weekend,” she did say yes. All this has led us to this weekend in Oahu, where Lauren's parents reside, when Lauren and James are finally, after years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, able to bring their closest friends and family together from around the world to celebrate a girl from Los Angeles, California and a guy from Adelaide, Australia finding love in a hopeless place – Boston, Massachusetts.