We met 4th of July weekend 2011 in Crescent Bar, WA when our mutual friends, Berlyn and Rheana Bales, invited us to their families vacation home. Throughout the weekend, Loren and his friends would joke and pretend to be in love with Michele. Later that summer, Michele went back to college in New York to start her junior year and Loren was student teaching in Washington. Michele would keep in touch with her new friends from that weekend, however, Loren was the only one who kept up the "love" joke. They would chat on and off that year but sparks really flew in early summer of 2012 when Michele was moving to San Diego for a summer internship and Loren was going to work on a fishing boat in Alaska. Both being a new place, we grew closer talking on the phone and video chatting whenever we could. Sparks started flying that summer and Michele invited him out to New York to visit her. We hadn't seen each other in over a year, but we knew we had something special so Loren booked a flight to New York for Halloween. However, the universe had other plans in mind and Loren's trip was delayed a week due to hurricane Sandy... The day finally came, and Michele picked Loren up from JFK airport and the rest is history! Loren proposed in on the beach in Ocean Park, where we love to vacation with friends and family! It was an amazing weekend spent with our closest friends and family and of course our dogs, Brody and Pippa. It was only fitting to celebrate our love by getting married at Echo Ridge Cellars which is owned by the Bales family. We are so excited for this next phase in our journey and cannot wait to celebrate with you all! xoxo, M+L