Marielle and I officially met on July 11, 2025, at Reid and Christina’s wedding. We were both in the wedding party, both from Western New York, and both quietly hoping for that special spark. My first tactical error of the weekend was an unsuccessful attempt at eating Maryland blue crabs. After giving up on the seafood, I decided to focus on a much better prospect: moving closer to the beautiful girl in the blue floral dress. I eventually tracked her down sitting on a bench with some friends and family, and finally got my chance to introduce myself. Later that night, after the groomsmen made their "last stand", fate stepped in again. As I walked toward our hotel, I spotted the girl in the blue dress sitting on a bench out front. I gave her a quick wave and invited her to join me and the guys at the bar. But I quickly realized I wanted some real one-on-one time to get to know her, so I asked her to take a walk with me on the pier behind the hotel. We wandered out onto what we later found out was a "haunted" pier, completely lost in conversation for over an hour—until I got the distinct, eerie sense that we were being watched. I turned around, expecting a ghost, only to see a very familiar silhouette and hear an unmistakable voice. It was Reid, the groom, standing on his balcony at 2:00 a.m. in his underwear, yelling down a suggestion that we "get a room." The next day at the wedding, with the help of a few Old Fashions, I found Marielle on the dance floor surrounded by her people. Immediately, her sister and friends formed a human blockade, unsure of what to make of my dance moves. I walked onto that pier looking for a conversation, but I walked away having found the love of my life—and I truly can't wait for the beautiful road ahead of us.