Thank you so much for visiting our wedding website! We can't wait to celebrate this special time with our family and friends in one of our favorite cities! Our website contains wedding weekend details, travel information, and a little about us. Please make sure to check back as the big day gets closer for information about everything to do and see while in the Crescent City.

A colleague of Lauren's had been suggesting she meet a "cute dad" on her daughter's soccer team for months. Eventually, Lauren gave the go ahead to pass along her number. A month later, Matt called inviting her for coffee, which she accepted (but suggested drinks instead.) Drinks turned into dinner, which turned into more drinks, and ultimately a pretty rough morning at school for Lauren. She struggled through the day, until to her surprise, Matt showed up at lunchtime with half the Taco Bell menu, some aspirin, and a big bottle of Gatorade. It was then she knew he was "the one" and the rest is history.

To say Lauren is hard to surprise is an understatement! Luckily, I had some amazing people to help me pull it off. After purchasing the ring, I kept it at the store so Lauren wouldn't find it! She's a snooper. This also gave me plausible deniability when she asked if I had a ring hidden in the house or the crazy places she suggested. Now for the plan... Lauren's Mom, Kim, and her Aunt Christie both had pivotal roles in pulling this off. Christie had mentioned that she wanted to try an escape room. I knew this would be the opportunity to get multiple people together without raising suspicion! Even better, there was a room with a Civil War theme, and Christie loves that so I knew it wouldn't be hard to get Lauren to agree to go. The plans were set in motion. Kim helped get the entire group together so we could all enjoy the big day, and I knew her girls wouldn't want to miss it. As the day approached, I was so nervous that I had a hard time focusing on anything else. Coming home from work, I knew I had to get cleaned up at least a little. Lauren wasn't having it. It was rainy and cold and she didn't understand why I was showering and doing my hair. As far as she knew, this was just family night. Nothing big. Luckily, I picked up the ring the day before to not raise suspicion. As the minutes passed, I could see she was starting to lose interest! Time to speed it up. The staff at the escape room helped with extra hints getting us to the final clue. When the clue came, I handed her the note to decipher. And she promptly gave to Megan, still disinterested. Luckily, Megan knew the plan and made her participate. We all helped spell out the Morse code from the wall to Lauren as she wrote it down. After double and triple checking the "Will you marry me?" from the clue, she finally realized, stunned, that I was down on one knee in front of her. The moment she said, "Yes!" was the happiest moment of my life! And I'll likely never be able to surprise her like that again!

On a dreary Friday evening, the gang met to go to a Civil War escape room. It had been planned for months and after a long work week and the beginning of holiday season craziness, I was exhausted. We got a few beers and by the 51st minute, I was pretty over it and had given up getting out of the room. When someone handed me a scroll that needed decoding with a bunch of lines and dots on it resembling Morse Code, I tried to pass it off to another person. Matt, Megan, and Mom insisted so I reluctantly began decoding the message using an alphabet key we’d found on the wall. As I figured out the letters, it wasn't registering; even as I said the words "Will You Marry Me?" out loud. As Matt got down on one knee, I remember being confused. It wasn't until I looked at everyone staring at me, then back at Matt who was still on one knee willing me to speak, that I let out an emphatic "YES!" which set off the ugliest cry of my life. I was absolutely shocked, incredibly grateful that everyone had worked so hard to surprise me, but most of all, super excited to marry my better half!