Matt and Jenna first met when they were both living in Mountain View through Matt's high school friend (and eventual Groomsman) Patrick. Over the next few months they took many fun trips with their friends, like camping and music festivals, and grew closer.
Matt and Jenna knew that they were meant to be together, and starting officially dating. Over the next five years, they moved to San Francisco, where Jenna started her PhD in Neuroscience at UC Berkeley, and Matt launched his esports startup. They traveled the world, visiting Mexico, Hawaii, Thailand, Austria, and Greece. They have also enjoyed exploring San Francisco and the Bay Area, with local trips to places such as Mendocino and Big Sur. They can often be found wine tasting, cooking together at home, hiking, and looking at videos of dogs online.
About five years after they first met, Matt and Jenna took a trip to Northern Norway to fulfill their bucket list item of seeing the Northern Lights. Little did Jenna know, Matt was planning to propose on the trip. After two nights of overcast skies (but fun filled days of dog sledding and exploring in the snow), they set out to a new location along a private beach. After waiting in the dark for hours with the camera ready, and beginning to pack up and head back, Matt saw a glimmer of light in the distance. After watching for a few minutes, the light began to get stronger and turn green, and started dancing across the sky. They set up Jenna's camera and tripod to get a picture of themselves in front of the aurora. But as Matt clicked the shutter, he got down on one knee and proposed! Jenna obviously said "YES!", and they spent the rest of their trip on cloud nine.
Since postponing the wedding and adjusting to life during the pandemic, we have experienced some exciting milestones. In August 2020, we bought a condo and moved to the beautiful Southern California city of Mission Viejo. Jenna (virtually) defended her dissertation and received her PhD in Neuroscience in December 2020, and shortly thereafter began a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Irvine. Then in March 2021, we welcomed our golden retriever puppy, Ladybug, to our family! We have been enjoying exploring southern California, doing home improvement projects, and non-stop play with our puppy!