The most entertaining part of telling our story is attempting to recall how we met. It wasn’t a big sparkles-and-heart-eyes moment, nothing worthy of a Hallmark movie, but the first thing I (Madi) can remember is sitting up late studying one night in her dorm with her roommate, Naomi (one of the bridesmaids!), and somehow the topic of boys and people in relationships was brought up. I am certain my face was red when I mentioned that I thought “that guy Ben seems sweet...and he’s cute.” However, nothing ever came of it, and Ben and I continued hanging out together in group settings, joking about how he seemed to come and go whenever he pleased, and that was that. The spring semester was over quickly, and everyone dispersed to go home for the summer. Neither of us thought much of it. Oh, but God did. Early in the summer, Ben shared some random posts on his Instagram, or replied to mine (Madi), and I always answered back. I do remember distinctly having the thought that I wanted to get to know this elusive guy; at the very least, he seemed like a good friend to have, albeit a little strange (but then again, the artists always are). We had a few short conversations, teasing each other and getting to know each other better over the summer. As the days grew steadily shorter, conversations lengthened, and in the middle of the summer, we had a decent conversation about dancing; how he loved it, and I had very little experience. It turns out, God was going to use that through the rest of our relationship as a beautiful and humbling reminder of love; His for us and ours for each other. So, while we can’t remember the first day we met, it doesn’t matter a whole lot to us. We’re just excited to celebrate this first day of the rest of our lives committed to each other and the future God has for us. It’s Him we have to thank for every moment of this love.

I will never, ever forget the awkwardness, insecurity, and holding-my-breath moments of our first dance. It wasn’t a typical dance song. It wasn’t even a slow song. But when “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Benny Goodman came on, and everyone started swinging at the Garden Party in the twilight with twinkling lights surrounding the space, I so badly wished that I had someone who wanted to be there, dancing with me. Swing is so much better with a partner. At the same time, the history buff in me wanted to learn how to swing dance correctly, so I quickly asked around if anyone knew how to do it, and it turned out someone did. I can’t remember who it was, but she took me step-by-step through it, and then asked if I was ready to try it with someone. Without waiting to hear my answer, she stepped away and Ben was sort of volun-told to dance. Immediately, I felt horrible, and deeply embarrassed. This poor guy who I was just beginning to know was now having to dance with me. If I’m honest, I tried every way I could to avoid eye contact. But to my surprise, he didn’t amuse me for a few seconds and then walk away. We danced the whole way through the song, and I don’t recall that a word was said, but something changed that night, at least for me. Especially when we all ditched the party after the song was over and went to Wawa, and Ben came along. That was the night I realized that maybe, just maybe, there could be something more to this; something I very much hoped would happen. Two weeks later, after some much deeper get-to-know-you conversations, Ben asked me out over text on October 12, 2019. Ideally, it would have been in person, and he amended that later, but the moment it happened, my heart stopped beating and my brain simultaneously shut down. For 45 minutes. It took a lot of talking through with Naomi (who had come home with me for fall break), and even calling Valerie to come over from her house because I could not believe it. My hands trembled as I texted him ‘Sure :)’.

Madi worked at the school library. I figured that for a person who loves books I would send her on a small adventure during the slow hours of the day. Just before she got to work, I wrote out a letter and slipped it into a large book. I believe the letter was about a painting and so I found a book with that painting in it. I noted the page number, wrote that in a hint on another piece of paper and put that in a different book in a different section of the library. And then repeated that a third time. And finally made a last note which I would hand to her in person at the front desk. I did that and then waited and hoped that no one took any of the books I had used in my treasure hunt. She soon found the letter about the couple in the painting and how it was us dancing under the starry night sky. They near a lake and we in the middle of the road. And the elusive Big Dipper which we were waiting to be able to see was clear in the painting. That was the first time she sent an heart over text. A small gesture which meant a lot. We continued to send each other letters this way. She would find a passage and hint at where I’d need to look. I’d explore till I found A Farwell to Arms and the two characters talk about That one rainy day. I’d take a book and underline the words on the pages that would make up the poem. It was her task to find them while she flew to Israel for her time studying abroad.