We met on September 25th, 2017 following UCSB’s freshman “ice cream social,” two days after moving into the dorms. Emily joined the establishing friend group, lovingly coined “Lowercase People” (many of whom you’ll see in wedding party). Living in the same dorm and sharing a love of musical theater, we quickly became best friends and were nearly inseparable during the years that followed. We spent our years performing in musicals and duets, working backstage, taking German classes, and living life to the absolute fullest on the beaches of Santa Barbara. Over time, our friendship slowly grew into something more. On February 21st, 2020, our relationship was official! Unfortunately, the COVID shutdowns started a mere 3 weeks later, and 6 long months of long-distance began. We went from seeing each other daily, to seeing each other once a month, if we were lucky. Though the distance from school and each other was awful at the time, in hindsight, it gave us time to establish what our relationship would be like away from the context of UCSB. We spent every night talking on the phone, counting the days until our next visit, growing closer from afar. That September, we moved into an apartment in Santa Barbara, and we have been living together ever since. Though our final year at UCSB was nothing like what we had expected, we were thankful we were able to spend it together. Our adventures were nowhere near as lively as previous years, but we were sure to go on walks, see our friends, and watch the sunset on the beach as often as we could. On January 10th, 2021, we adopted Moosh (our big, stinky, dumb, tuxedo cat, who is the true love of both our lives). Over the next five months, we celebrated our one year anniversary, graduated, and made a HUGE move to Woodland! We spent the second half of our year getting our footing, working, and settling into our new life. On January 10th, 2022, Emily started graduate school, and Luke started his first full-time technical theater job shortly after. It was a drastic change in schedules, stress, and lifestyle, but doing it together made it not only manageable, but enjoyable. Continuing our unintentional pattern of timing our big life events together, Emily graduated weeks before Luke started a new job in August of 2023. During that same month, we also moved into a house! On January 10th, 2024, we got engaged, just before our four year anniversary! Luke selected the date he wanted to propose two years prior (does it look familiar?). It was an important date for us; a date of new beginnings. We are absolutely ecstatic to see where the newest beginning in our life together leads us. Somewhere amazing, if the past seven years are any indication, and we are so excited to celebrate it with all of you!