On February 3rd, 2019, our story kicks off on Super Bowl Sunday for a pre-game lunch. We both had our own watch parties to attend, Caitlin’s with a few classmates and Tyler’s with his sweet kitty Meg. The plan was to meet at The Green Well, but Tyler quickly pivoted after finding the restaurant was closed for an employee party. Instead, we met across the street at Brewery Vivant, a European inspired refurbished church-turned-brewery, for our first date. At the time, Caitlin was in graduate school and had recently visited this brewery with some classmates (shoutout to Carly - one of our wedding party members!). As luck would have it, Caitlin snapped a photo of the coveted truffle fries and sent it to her classmates asking, “guess where?”. Little did she know, she was documenting the first meal we’d ever share together between multiple full blown belly-laughs - see below. Fast forward a few months, and Tyler found himself attending his first Hengesbach family wedding. Caitlin’s parents, whether it be intuition, wisdom, or drive to lock this nice new young man down, invited him to join the family vacation to St. Croix scheduled a full seven months later in celebration of Caitlin earning her master’s degree. It felt bold, maybe even risky, but as we’ve come to realize, they must have known something we didn’t. Over the past six years, we have accomplished, overcame, and/or thrived because of and in spite of so many amazing things. We successfully forced our baby kitty girls (Pippa and Meg) to cohabitate and semi-tolerate each other - we survived a global pandemic while dating long-distance (Caitlin living in Ludington for 10 months) then first moving in together in October 2020 - Tyler taking graduate courses online while working full-time January 2021 - purchasing our dream home in the best neighborhood with the neighbors to match June 2021 - Tyler’s dad, Randy Ruprecht, passing away in September 2021 - Caitlin getting her dream job working full-time August 2023 after working many PRN/part-time positions - getting engaged in May 2024 - Tyler graduating with his master’s degree in finance in December 2024 - and now planning our wedding October 2025. We are incredibly thankful for each and every chapter thus far in our love story. We are SO excited to have a big party with our closest people who have been part of our story to celebrate us and all the chapters to come. GET THOSE DANCING SHOES POLISHED!!!!