It’s “Halloweekend” at UMass Amherst and Lauren is a freshman. It’s a Thursday night and she wants to have a lazy night in. After some convincing (maybe a few shots, too, nobody knows for sure) Kristen and Cat got her to go out. She meets a young man named Brian and ends up putting her number in his phone. They hang out for the next week straight - lots of takeout, pizza, junk food, and a little bit of Grand Theft Auto. She met the charismatic crew of fraternity brothers, saw his messy apartment, and decided to stick around anyways. And the rest, as they say…is history.

Lauren and Brian knew they wanted a dog, but had no intent of looking to adopt yet. But when Lauren’s brother-in-law’s (Shane) father rescued a sweet puppy in his neighborhood in Florida and realized he couldn’t keep her, he decided to bring her up to Massachusetts to see if Nikki and Shane could help find her a forever family. Again, nobody intended on her ending up with them, but it just felt right. Luckily, Lauren’s amazing and generous parents were housing the bride & groom at the time and allowed this sweet, nervous little puppy to stay in their home. We are happy to report there were very few accidents! Brian, Lauren and Penny soon moved out, and every day since have fallen more and more in love with the most loving dog that makes their family complete. And, yes, you can meet Penny at the wedding. 😊

The best thing to come out of the pandemic: our engagement. A beautiful early fall day, Brian suggests a nice date walking around at the Mount in Lenox, MA. Time goes by, having a good time, goofing off and taking pictures, and then he suggests they have a seat. He starts off with some sweet words and compliments, so Lauren naturally makes a dumb joke and brushes it off, but soon realizes this is not just a regular date. He gets down on one knee, pulls the ring box out of his sock where it had been bouncing around against his ankle bone, and opened it up. Lauren was immediately blinded by the diamond. The End. Just kidding! Of course, she didn’t hesitate to say yes and then the tears came. Ask her now and she can’t remember most of the words spoken that afternoon; just the feeling of overwhelming love and happiness. Before they could dry their tears, Lauren’s brother Joe and sister-in-law Keri came strolling out of the nearby woods. They’d coordinated with Brian to hide out and take pictures the whole time! Talk about a team effort ❤️

Story to come… 👰‍♀️