During the summer of 2010, Martin backpacked around the US to visit friends he had made on a recent study-abroad experience. Martin stayed with his new friends Molly and Helen during a weekend in Madison, WI, who happened to be Libby's close friends and roommates. We all spent the weekend together, visiting the capitol, taking in the sights of Madison, and having a good time. Even though we only met for two days we kept thinking about each other after that first weekend in Madison. Years passed but we kept asking our mutual friend Molly about one another. In 2016, Martin messaged Molly after seeing a photo of her and Libby together at a Wisconsin football game. Molly told Martin that Libby was newly single and that he should message her directly. He did. After a few months the two were texting daily and graduated to video calls not long after. In early 2018 Martin planned a month-long trip to the States to visit friends from college and grad school. He had a free week towards the end of his trip and asked Libby if he could visit St. Louis. It would be the first time meeting each other in person since August of 2010! Libby welcomed Martin to St. Louis in February 2018 and showed him the sights of StL. Three months later, Libby visited Martin in Bergen, his hometown in Norway, and met some of his family. Three months after that Martin joined Libby and her family on a 10-day trip to Maine. After that, it became clear that this was now, as they say, a thing.

Being in a long distance relationship for the first few years was rough, but the visits every few months were always worth the wait. Then Covid hit. International travel locked down. Martin couldn't come to the US, and Libby couldn't travel to Norway. There was a brief window of time in which partners were allowed to visit Norway on a "Romantic Partner" Visa. Libby jumped on a plane to Bergen in September 2020 and spent the first 10 days quarantining in Martin's apartment. After that, there was a long, terrible wait. The pandemic and travel restrictions meant we couldn't see each other for almost a year. We had to find somewhere to meet in the middle. We decided to go to Spain for a three-week reunion road trip. Spain allowed both American and Norwegian citizens with proof of vaccination. Martin knew it was his chance to propose and went about getting a ring, a family heirloom from his maternal grandmother. On a warm and clear night, sitting on a cobblestone porch at our B&B in the mountain town of Ronda, we chatted about our day and enjoyed some cold beers. After a while, Martin faked an excuse, ran to our room, and returned with a ring in his pocket. After a few moments of silence and looking out at the stars and valley below, Martin looked over at Libby. "This first week has been perfect. The only thing that could make the rest of the trip more perfect is if you would do it as my fiancé." The look in Libby's eye suggested that she had been waiting for this. "Will you be my wife?" Libby said yes.

After the ups and downs of immigration paperwork and interviews were completed, Martin moved to St. Louis on December 13th, 2021. He left Bergen, Norway early in the morning with a one-way plane ticket, an excess amount of luggage, and a K-1 visa, aka a "fiancé visa". This required us to get married within 90 days of Martin's arrival. We did not want to waste any time. After a few weeks of settling in we scheduled a courthouse wedding in St. Louis County in Clayton for January 19th, 2022. We could only bring two guests with us to the ceremony because of Covid restrictions. Ann and Andrew, Libby's mom and brother, joined us to the courthouse, as well as a photographer to document it all. Only two witnesses were allowed into the courtroom itself so Ann and the photographer joined us as we said "I do." Despite the frigid temperatures and biting wind that day, we were joyful and excited. The ceremony went quickly and all of a sudden, almost two years after we first started Martin's immigration paperwork, we were married! We were so happy to finally reach this point. Finally being in the same city and to be married has been worth it. All the calls with 7 hour time differences, all the international flights, and the heaps of documentation for the immigration lawyer... But of course, it wasn't a real wedding celebration without our families and friends. So the planning for the real party began!