Dreams do come true!

As all of you know, Daniel and I tied the knot on our original ceremony date of May 9 with just immediate family present. It was a beautiful day and while we wish more of you could have joined us, we truly are so happy with our wedding day and the memories we have from the intimate ceremony. We had originally planned to host a large, postponed reception next spring. But after much consideration and reflection, we have made the decision to not pursue a formal reception at this time. We are still hoping to celebrate with you on a small scale at some point, perhaps at smaller gatherings in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but due to COVID-19, this is likely to be in the distant future.  Daniel and I are so grateful for the love from all of you as we wedding planned, got married, and entered into newlywed bliss. We appreciate your love and support (even from afar!) and will keep our wedding registry active if you'd still like to support us in these early months of marriage. 

Daniel and I matched on a dating app called Bumble. I was impressed by Daniel's good question-asking and how he didn't wait long to ask me out. Just a couple days after matching online, we met at Muddy Waters on a warm June evening. I had texted him beforehand to tell him how hungry I was after just finishing a cycling class (poor guy probably thought he was meeting an athlete - whoops). His initial impression of me was that I talked a lot, and he thought I was mocking him as I actively listened (whenever he was talking, I'd nod along with a lot of "mmhmm"s, "yeah"s, and "uh huh"s... my teacher self wasn't fully on summer break yet!). I was NOT mocking him, and instead was just truly interested in what he had to say... it wasn't much since he was a quiet guy at first, but I felt really comfortable around him and was intrigued from the start. Daniel texted later that evening to ask about another date and I didn't have to think twice. He suggested Annie's Parlour as I had mentioned their amazing coffee-Oreo shakes during our first date. (His ability to remember seemingly insignificant things I mention and then to ask about them or return to them later was one of the traits that drew me in.) We met at Annie's a couple days later for those coffee-Oreo shakes and fries - and thus began our tradition of trying fries everywhere we go! I was still teaching then so I had the entire summer off; Daniel had a new job but wasn't working regular hours either. So we had a LOT of time to spend together that first summer, expediting what probably would have taken much longer during the school year. We went to drive-in movies and walked around the chain of lakes, went to the Stone Arch Bridge fireworks and visited a couple wineries. By the end of the summer, I knew I was ready to make our relationship official and promote Daniel to boyfriend status.

Her photos looked good. We matched. Had several good dates. Took some trips. Proposed.

Daniel says he realized he wanted to marry me after our second date. It took me a lot longer to know! Two years later, after hearing some serious hints about the types of rings I liked, he made a big purchase. I had mentioned several times the importance of Daniel asking my dad for his blessing of our marriage, so he called my dad one Friday afternoon and had The Talk. Daniel says the talk was "classic Richard Manns" in that my dad had prepared questions in advance to ask Daniel and the conversation was "definitely in the top 3 longest conversations of my life".(He's a man of few words.) Daniel knew he wanted to propose on our upcoming vacation. He carried the ring in his pocket for eight days: through airport security, over several hundred miles of Scottish highlands, by Loch Ness, near many waterfalls, through countless Irish pubs, and into the charming town of Dingle. With only two days left in the trip, Daniel finally found the right location while on a morning drive around the Dingle Peninsula. The vantage points were beautiful but when we got to what felt like the tenth identical lookout area, I was hesitant to get out of the car AGAIN. Daniel insisted that we "just go a little further", closer to the cliffside overlooking the Atlantic. We got there, and I should have known something was up when he took out his own phone and took a selfie of the two of us -- it's a struggle to get him to be IN a picture, let alone take one of us! I started walking back to the car, but Daniel kept making comments about our future together. I was ahead of him on the path, and I kept saying "me too!" or nodding in agreement after each statement as I continued walking away from him. I did not realize this was his PROPOSAL! Finally, he mentioned that our next vacation should be a honeymoon, but in order for that to happen, something else needed to happen first. When I turned around, he took my hand, knelt, and proposed. Below is our first picture together after the engagement!