Bonny first noticed Matt on one crisp fall morning in 2013 during her second year of medical school. She was sleepily meandering into the kitchen to pour another cup of coffee to jolt her awake for the day's lectures. On entering, she ran into Matt Badgett, roommate and fellow classmate at EVMS, who had clearly just returned from an early morning run. No sooner had Bonny filled her cup when the door to the hallway bathroom groaned open and out stumbled a pale-faced, rather sickly-looking, yet sheepishly handsome young man who she soon discovered was Badgett's most recent running buddy/early morning exercise-enthused masochist. Yes, it was none other than Matt, who had unfortunately had been pushed a little past his limit running hills on the local golf course and now was suffering from a nasty bout of runner's diarrhea. Having been unable to make it the extra half-mile home before "the show" started, Badgett had graciously offered the use of his toilet, which Matt's contemptuous bowels had certainly obliged. So there they were, gazes locked on each other as Matt closed the door an an attempt to contain the disaster in the hallway bathroom (a true Van Winkle as always). As she looked deep into the eyes of her future husband, Bonny thought to herself, "who the heck is this disheveled sweaty dude? and why is he using our bathroom?!" It was love at first sight...well no, actually not, but Bonny and Matt began to bond through mutual friends over the course of the next few years and it wasn't too long before they began talking about spending the rest of their lives together. Then, on a sunny day in April 2017...the proposal!

On a fine misty day in April, Matt and Bonny had managed to slip away for a weekend visiting with Matt's parents, Tom and Jennifer. Little did Bonny know, Matt had special plans for their otherwise innocuous row in the Green Flash (rowboat) on the Mystic River Estuary. As they pulled away from shore, Matt angled towards a array of winter mooring stakes, the closest of which had a small floating water-proof bag attached to it. As they drew close, Matt inquired "hey what's that?", pointing out the floating package, "see if you can grab it!" Of course as any sane person approaching a strange buoy would say, Bonny quickly replied "Ew no! Don't touch that, it's not ours!" Undeterred, Matt pulled the boat alongside and secured the odd package, much to Bonny's continued alarm. It wasn't until Matt unzipped the water-proof bag and out tumbled an unmistakable small box that Bonny understood. As Matt held out the ring and knelt on boat's floorboards, there was nothing left except for Bonny to say YES!

Indeed, we were officially married by a very nice, and frankly pretty awesome, justice of the peace in the Norfolk, VA courthouse on May 19th, 2017. The way we saw it, we were about to spend the next 4-6 years in the throes of residency and didn't want to wait to start the rest of our lives together. Now that we have our feet on the ground somewhat and have had more time to plan, we want to share our happiness with all our friends and family with a real wedding! So come to Baltimore and let's celebrate in style, at the Zoo!