we're tying the knot

We have decided to limit our guests to only close family. This was a tough decision to make, but your health is our top priority. Please join us for a virtual wedding shower on Saturday, August 15 at 11:00am CST. Also, we plan to have a true reception next year (or as soon as possible) so please be on the lookout for an email with more details. Link for Facebook Live Virtual Shower: https://www.facebook.com/events/974997892938487/ We hope everyone is safe and well! All our love, Mark and Kate

Our love story begins freshman year in a typical college apartment, sharing one of the finest spaghetti dinners we’ve ever had. Kate and I are never ones to pass up a good meal, so when her friend Lizzie and my friend Joe—these two are cousins— invited us to dinner, we of course said yes. Free spaghetti and garlic bread? You’d be crazy to say no. Plus, we had heard that the recipe was a well-guarded Kieklak/Alvarez family secret. We became friends that night. I even did my best to impress Kate with my sweet dance moves to Wagon Wheel (the Old Crow version). Maybe that was just enough to keep me on her mind, but it wasn’t enough to win her over. During the next two years we both continued through college—I was studying international relations and Spanish, and Kate was studying dietetics and Spanish. When senior year rolled around, we had both just returned from a semester studying abroad—me in Chile and her in Ecuador. All of a sudden, we had a lot more in common than spaghetti and Wagon Wheel. We bonded over our travels, the Spanish language, and our involvement in the international student programs at the University of Arkansas. At one point, I asked Kate to be more than friends; but, always the wiser of us, she told me it wasn’t the right time. And, she was right. After graduation in 2015 we both embarked on new adventures. She went to Puerto Rico for a Dietetic Internship, and I headed to DC to join the workforce of unpaid interns. While away from Arkansas we stayed in touch, talking over the phone and skype. At first only every once and a while, then maybe once a month. By the time I had moved to Colombia in Summer 2016 and Kate had moved back to Arkansas, we were skyping nearly every week. We had become best friends. When I returned to Arkansas for graduate school the timing was finally right. We had both taken some much-needed time to adventure, and along the way we had found that the one constant throughout our experiences was each other. -Mark

“Um Kate, you still haven’t said anything?”—Mark’s voice pulled me back to reality. He was waiting for a response to a very important question. I was way too high up on cloud nine to realize that I hadn’t actually given my answer, and I’m sure Mark was cautiously trying to discern if this was a good or bad kind of speechless. You see, Mark’s proposal was a surprise. An “I-wasn’t-expecting-this-for-another-whole-YEAR” kind of surprise. (Based on every conversation we had about marriage). Yeah, it was my birthday and yes we were at one of my favorite places (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), but I was so unassuming, the clues just flew right over my head: 1) Mark seemed quieter than normal, but I chalked this up to a full weekend of pre-Christmas celebrations prior to this Monday afternoon. 2) He insisted on wearing his coat around the museum instead of hanging it up like I did. I thought, “whew I hope the man didn’t forget to put on deodorant today…” but now I know Mark was carefully guarding the ring in his pocket. 3) He was curiously opinionated about sitting in the café during our mid-museum coffee ritual: “No! um…Let’s sit by the windows so we can enjoy the view??” (which was coincidentally more private). 4) I was told to close my eyes because he had a birthday present for me, yet he wasn’t carrying a bag around with him? When I opened my eyes, it all hit me: a little red box, something sparkling inside, Mark kneeling, and then those four powerful words. Will you marry me? If you’re half the detective I am, you’ve already concluded I said yes. In fact I said, “Yes, YES, of course!” after I slowed my espresso-induced tachycardia as best I could. Since our engagement, the excitement has only continued to grow. Mark and I are beyond ecstatic to bind our lives together in love. We feel like the luckiest people in the world, and we hope you’ll join us in a community of support on our wedding day. -Kate