we're (still) getting married!

Like any good teenage rom-com, we met in high school. In January 2008, Laura messaged Shawn on AIM (hah) to ask for a ride to the Maryland Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge. We spent the whole ride to Sandy Point State Park talking, and after our swim, went to a coffee shop to warm up and talk more. We knew quickly that we had found something great. We went our separate ways in college, but finally got our timing right in 2014. We still celebrate our "Plunge-iversary" every January. We no longer jump into frigid water for charity, but more than thirteen years later, we're hoping you can join us as we take a different kind of plunge in October 2021.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving 2018, Laura bought Shawn an "engagement standmixer" and hid it in the trunk of her Jeep, waiting for just the right time. One night, Shawn went out for Thanksgiving cooking supplies, and Laura quickly filled the kitchen with candles and proposed when he got home (no one should receive a standmixer right AFTER cooking dinner and pies for multiple families!). A week later, Shawn asked Laura to clear her schedule for a "surprise adventure." Shawn took Laura on a tour of places from our relationship, starting with Sandy Point State Park (the site of our Plunge!), Carrabbas (the site of our first dinner date in high school.. but actually it was weirdly closed so we made a new tradition at a baked potato place in Annapolis!), Mount Vernon (we climbed the monument in our favorite Baltimore neighborhood, where we started dating for Shawn and Laura round 2), and, finally, the steps of our house in Monkton, where we popped champagne and got engaged. We celebrated by going to dinner at Sotta Sopra in Baltimore with our parents, and then to laser disc karaoke in Hampden with some good friends and a lot of strangers (because we had already planned to do that). It was awesome.