Sage and Aidan met in sailing class at Cornell. Technically, they met waiting for the shuttle to the lake on the first day of class — Aidan saw Sage standing alone at the pickup spot by the dining hall and launched into his best attempt at small talk. Evidently, it went well! Sage asked Aidan to be her partner for a class exercise. They took a sailboat out together and capsized it in the middle of the lake. They were both laughing as they leaned back on the keel to right it. They stayed partners for the rest of the semester because they made a great team. Aidan looked forward to sailing class every week, and Sage had long conversations with her roommate about the cute "Boat Guy". On the last day of class, as they were getting ready to dock, Aidan asked Sage if she would like to go for a sunset picnic dinner the following night. Sage said yes! When he got home, he realized he had not specifically called it a date... would she think it was a PLATONIC sunset picnic dinner? As he walked to his first college exam, he texted her to clarify, "I meant to ask you out as a date, by the way". She responded just as he sat down for the test, “I know, haha." Aidan spent much of the exam daydreaming about Sage. The first date went great and turned into many more.

Sage and Aidan have spent many summers together at her family’s house on Fire Island. They planned their last trip of the season this year there for late September. As they took the ferry across the bay, Sage had no idea that Aidan had a ring burning a hole in his pocket. Aidan had originally planned to propose on the first day of their trip, but Sage was sleep-deprived from work and spent most of the day snoozing on the beach. On the SECOND day of the trip, when Sage was well-rested, Aidan asked her to go for a bike ride (one of their favorite Fire Island activities). They pedaled through a few blocks of beach houses, then Aidan suggested they pull over and walk on the beach. During their walk, he started to reminisce about their lives together. Sage, knowing Aidan well, assumed this was just his typical monologuing. She was wrong! Just as the sun began to set, he got down on one knee and proposed. She said “yes,” which is why we are all here for this wedding.

Over seven years, Sage and Aidan’s relationship has spanned four shared apartments, four graduations, three fish, two years of coast-to-coast long distance, two cats, and one tarantula. Since their first picnic date, they have shaped each other’s lives in ways that neither of them could have predicted. Sage taught Aidan how to ski, and Aidan taught Sage to play video games; she’s really good now! Sage became more aware of the intricacies of programming than she ever expected, and Aidan learned the terms for more animal diseases than he knew existed. They figured out how to cook dinner, problem-solve as a couple, compromise, and help eachother through difficult times. Most importantly, they learned how nice it is to come home to someone you love every day.