We'll be holding the ceremony and a reception in Ohio on November 6, 2021. Ben and Melissa have dreamed of having their wedding at Ben's family's property since our first date. Texas folks - we didn't forget about you! We will ALSO be having a reception in Texas two weeks later - November 20, 2021 in the central Texas area. Please join us for whichever one is most convenient for you, or even come to both if you want (but that's definitely not expected)!

Melissa and Ben met unofficially when Melissa was working a weekend at Camp Nuhop where Ben was an Outdoor Education Instructor. He came up to Melissa's group holding a box of baby chickens and Melissa spent the next few months trying to figure out who this mysterious chick man was. After a few months of calling Ben "the chicken boy" to her friends, Ben and Melissa officially met at an apple orchard for a mutual friend's birthday and went as partners to a barn dance later that night (hey, it was central Ohio). They lived almost two hours away from each other at that point but found a way to see each other every weekend for the next month, including meeting both sets of parents. After about a month, they were officially dating, and the next three years would be filled with lots of adventures, including Ben showing Melissa around all his favorite spots in Ohio, trips to the beach in South Carolina, travels to the mountains, Ben visiting Texas for the first time, and, the latest adventure, moving to Texas together! Best friends, partners, and recently, cat parents - Melissa and Ben are so excited to start the rest of their lives together and are happy to have you all along for the adventure!

Melissa here. We wanted to share a little bit about why we are choosing now to get married. Many of you are already aware, so this will just be a bit of an elaborated story. Ben and I moved to Texas so I could start my clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin on July 1st. About a week and a half later, my dad was taken to the emergency room in an ambulance for a seizure. Low and behold, dad had a brain tumor. The very next morning, they told my mom what it MIGHT be - glioblastoma - and that, statistically speaking, the outlook wasn't great. My mom came home and told us the news, and after sobbing in Ben's arms for a bit, I asked him if we could get married. He was looking at his phone and he turned his screen around to me to show me the engagement ring site he was already looking at. Later that day, we went up to the hospital to visit dad. It was just my mom, dad, Ben, and me in the room, and my dad looked at us and said "So Ben, when are you going to marry my daughter?" Ben and I looked at each other and then I (very awkwardly) slid out of my chair and went into the hallway. I presume the conversation after I left went something like this - Ben said, "Hey, Tim and Kata, your daughter is awesome and we love each other and we're gonna get married." And my parents said, "We agree, she is awesome and so are you, so sounds great!" Something like that! Ben and I had already started heading down the engagement and marriage road. We had talked about rings and venues already but weren't in any rush. However, facing a difficult new reality, we decided it was important to us, and my dad, that my dad gets to be there. No one is really sure how much time we get with my dad, but we're going to make sure that this is one thing on his bucket list that gets checked off! By doing it sooner rather than later, we hope that he is feeling good and everyone can enjoy the time together. So, let's celebrate life and love!