From Lauren’s Perspective: Long story short, a mutual friend set-us up. Short story long, it all started at Kelly Gray’s (now Marshall) wedding. Let’s call it October 2016, Kelly mentions that she wants to set me up with someone. “He’s funny, smart, really into travel, cooking, food and wine” she tells me…but lives in Philadelphia. My emphatic response? "Nope"!! A few months later, let’s call it February 2017, and this guy has moved back to Boston. She tells me he noticed me at the wedding and has been wanting to meet me. I mean…he already knows a bit about me AND thinks I’m cute? I mean...obviously, I’m in. Weeks go by, months go by. Crickets. It's now August 2017 and I still haven’t heard from this dude. Kelly is moving to Austin, TX any day now and our friend Monica and I are sending her off into her new adventure. Over dinner and cocktails and far too many laughs, my phone dings with a text message - ‘Hi. This is Matt...’. Too coincidental, I’m convinced this was orchestrated by Kelly as her last-ditch effort, from the dinner table. Many texts later and a pinky promise with Kelly that she did not plan the coincidental timing, Matthew and I made a plan for our first date on August 16, 2017 at the Lobby Bar at the Liberty Hotel. A drink turned into another drink, turned into apps and a 4-hour date that felt like 20 minutes. Matt hoofed it back to his apartment on Tremont. I took an Uber home to Salem with a nice driver named Romaine, like the lettuce. Those were the days of sharing Uber rides with strangers for a cheaper ride (the horror, pre-Covid), so I toured Chelsea and Lynn before making it home. We were texting the whole time until Matt knew I made it home safely and Romaine didn’t chop me up for his salad. We were both pretty into each other after that first date but still ‘playing it cool’. We also had a ton of travel coming up so getting together and communication were sporadic (Nantucket, Princeton and Sicily for Matthew. New York, Nashville and Miami for me). Fast forward to mid-October, 2017, walking hand-in-hand on the way to dinner and I remember being a little nervous and saying to Matthew ‘sooo, umm, I really like you. And I don’t want to date anyone else. What do you think?’ He smiled and squeezed my hand a little tighter and just said ‘You're the only one I'm dating’. And that was that. So many dates, trips, adventures, laughs, meeting friends, meeting family and I think it was probably early 2018 when Kelly’s wedding came up in conversation between the two of us. We realized that she had told EACH OF US that we were checking each other out at her wedding and asking about each other. Wait, what?? Perhaps it was the cocktail fumes or the magic of the dance floor but neither of us recall that happening. She had played us both in a match making blind date two-step!! Tricksy, Lady! 5 years later…it doesn’t matter the white lies told to get us to meet, it doesn’t matter how long it took him to tell me he loved me, or how long it took him to ask me to marry him. The life we've already built together is amazing and Matthew Brian Witkus was worth every second!

From Matthew’s Perspective: Three months of planning had led me to this day. The ring was stowed safely in my bag. The champagne was icing in a cooler. Her parents had given me their blessing. Everything was mapped out: a three course fete at the Culinary Institute of America, a tour of the summer “cottages” from the gilded age, a peek into the past at the homestead of Eleanor and FDR, a room booked at the Roundhouse in Beacon NY with a huge deck overlooking the falls created by the Fishkill Creek and my “speech” sketched out and practiced. The rest of the weekend mapped out with assorted adventures. It was all laid out – apart from execution. This weekend was created with advice along the way from a small circle of tight-lipped advisors who helped me flesh out my good ideas and flush out the bad ones. I tried to throw a red herring to my notoriously perceptive fiancé by pitching this as a delayed “birthday weekend,” a small tradition that has been a part of our 5 years together. I had kept any and all of the details private from Lauren aside from “pack for a spring weekend in New England” knowing Hyde Park, NY was our first stop of the trip. We set out Saturday morning with a stop at our local coffee shop and a backseat filled with too much luggage. The weather was cool and overcast but predicted to improve. We wandered the grounds of the CIA taking in student life and a huge mural of Anthony Bourdain. We strolled the grounds at the Vanderbilt mansion as the sun broke through the clouds and we shed our coats to enjoy the spring sunshine. We were about 30 minutes away from the hotel and my master plan was to “pop the question” and the hidden champagne as the sun set in the backdrop over the waterfalls. Insert a quote here about “the best laid plans.” The weather had started to darken again and the temperature to drop. I was promptly pulled over by the Poughkeepsie constabulary after trying to squeeze my way through a yellow light that was perhaps tinted a reddish hue. After being given a warning by the kind policeman I was given a bit more of a dressing down by Lauren who has long thought my driving skills needed some polish. 5 minutes later a few raindrops drops hit the windshield. We arrived at the hotel (which quickly got a thumbs up from Lauren) and checked in. While walking our gear and clothes between buildings the rain intensified with the wind to match. We got to the room and I circled back to retrieve the rest of the luggage and the clandestine bubbles. The weather moved to soft downpour. Upon returning I realized my vision of sunset on the deck with Schramsburg and diamonds was off the table. Lauren was so chilly and footsore after forcing her to wander the local countryside all day, she had promptly put on her softest sweater, removed her shoes and pants and snuggled into bed. All of this within 5 minutes! The moment was upon us however with no real opportunity to wait out the weather or wait until the next day as I had stealthily arranged to have a photographer set to meet us the following morning. I asked Lauren to join me on the couch for small “birthday gifts,” a t-shirt and champagne flutes. She agreed, sans pants. After total control and confidence all day, with the main event upon me - the ring activated a volcanic setting in my pocket and I was convinced it would burn a hole in my leg. I dropped to one knee, all the words I had planned a ghost in the recesses of my mind. My hand holding the ring was shaking so badly I had to grab it with my opposite to steady it and asked her to join me permanently in this life we had built. My memory had her taking her time with a response which challenged my confidence and aging knee but when she said “yes” much like my “speech” everything else sort of faded to mist in my mind. Who needs the colors of sunset or the perfect setting when you are marrying someone who shines brighter than the sun?