Our Story (So Far)

Our story started in 2019 when we matched on Hinge. After messaging about cats, cringy pickup lines, and board games, we met at Cafe Steam before going to a Rochester Symphony concert.

Dating during a global pandemic meant finding time in between shifts, when at least one of us was was likely sleep deprived. Hiking became a favorite hobby, and remains one today!

Our first Thanksgiving together was celebrated in a barely furnished apartment, featuring Zoom calls with both of our families and some pre-made Thanksgiving dinners from Hyvee.

We celebrated Zach and Claire’s wedding as our first big post-COVID event, and we’re thrilled to have both of them celebrating with us on our special day just a few years later.

As a treat for surviving the pandemic, we took a trip to Florida. We watched the sun set over the pier at Clearwater Beach, swam with stingrays (unintentionally), and, of course, got badly sunburned.

When we moved in together shortly after our trip, we had two cats that barely tolerated each other. Sam, the chunky tabby, wanted to be friends, while Dani, the orange girl, wanted to be left alone.

Then we brought a new kitten home and our chunky tabby found his best friend in a tiny calico we named Wisp.

A year later, after looking for only a few short months, we bought our house.

We’ve tried to maintain a steady stream of adventures peppered into our life together, from the Renaissance Festival…

and ax throwing...

to tubing on the Root River every summer, where we're sometimes brave enough to jump from a railway bridge!

We went on an adventure to Mexico where we helped baby sea turtles find their way to the ocean, had a little friendly shooting competition, and celebrated Chris and Tia’s wedding.

For anyone wondering, Libby won the competition :)

We hosted our first Halloween party in our new house as Christine Dae and The Phantom of the Opera. Jon even watched the movie to prepare (not that he was given a choice).

Jon was a groomsman for the first time at Ashley and Bennett's beautiful fall wedding. We may have borrowed an idea...or two...or three when it came time to plan ours.

We went to the North Shore on a hiking trip, where we explored several state parks and hiked to the tallest waterfall in the state, right at the Minnesota/Canadian border.

A stranger was kind enough to capture Jon’s surprise proposal in front of the waterfall at Grand Portage. We were both sweaty, unshowered, and covered in mosquito bites, but it was utterly perfect.

We really brought out our Christmas spirit for our second annual Halloween party as Heat Miser and Cold Miser, a costume created solely for the excuse of wearing matching sweat suits.

We added a new kitten, Nox, who treats Wisp like a big sister. They enjoy causing chaos together, occasionally fight for attention, and ensure our house is never a dull place.

We took engagement pictures at Quarry Hill Nature Center to practice for the big day. It's one of our favorite places to hike every spring.

We made the long drive from Rochester to West Bend the first time together to celebrate Julia and Tyler's wedding and are so happy they'll be making the drive to join us!

We dressed as Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable to host the 2024 Hallow-lympics, our last major party before the big day. We had so much fun playing games with our friends and future wedding party!