Since we met, Jack’s known how much I enjoy going to the farmers market, and shared my love of baked goods. When we moved to Toledo it took me only a few weeks to discover the Perrysburg farmers market and in the summer and fall months, it’s been one of my favorite activities. My favorite tents have always been the French bakery, a local farmer’s dog treats, and the cheese shop. It’s a rare Thursday that Jack would go with me, it was usually Frankie by my side, but on August 10th Jack insisted he’d tag along. I didn’t think much of it since his older sister, Sara, and her son Vince were already planning to join the fun. When we pulled up to the scene, we made our way to my favorite tents. Jack pointed out the French bakery tent first, and I agreed it would be fun to buy a couple of sweet treats for Vince. As we approached the familiar face of the woman who makes the delicious baguettes, croissants, cookies, etc. she asked me if I’d try a new recipe of hers. Again, not out of the ordinary since I made a point to go to her tent every single Thursday. But something did throw me off - she gave me a box of croissants and asked me if the baking instructions made sense. Why was she asking me this? They seemed like they were already cooked? And why was Jack standing so close to me? Why does he care about this so much? I looked at the directions again and skipped to the last step. “Marry me?” Still very confused, I looked at Jack and he was now on one knee. Extremely frazzled, I barely heard him ask, “Well, will you marry me?” Surprised and overjoyed, I said, “I will!”

At 12pm on August 22nd, a Tuesday, Jack and I left for “lunch” and arrived at the courthouse in downtown Toledo. With only the two of us, plus a photographer (thank you Andy!), Judge Puffenberger married us. It was intimate and romantic, two things I hadn’t really imagined a courthouse wedding would be, but we loved it! Our close family already knew the plan, and we called them all immediately after. I still can’t describe the feeling we felt after leaving the courthouse. I’m sure many of you know the happiness! We took off straight from the courthouse to downtown Detroit to spend the evening away having dinner, drinks, desserts, and lots of champagne to celebrate. We were back to work the next morning, but hope to have more of a true honeymoon in 2024. Of course there was part of us that felt bad about not including you all in our celebrations, but we hope to have some sort of party in the future!