We're getting married!!

We always say that we were meant to be, that everything in our lives pushed us together. Our wedding feels like we met in the middle of those paths because it was inevitable that we'd find each other. Our story doesn't just begin at first swipe, but instead began almost a decade before we even met. Our story began about seven years before we met, when, as fate would have it, Aiyana's Tia Honey started working with Samantha's youngest sister at school. It began again six years before we met when Aiyana graduated from high school in Florida and decided to come home to New Jersey. It began again four years before we met when Samantha got her fifth concussion and decided to become a teacher. It began again three years before we met when Ellie, Aiyana’s cousin and our junior bridesmaid, started attending Samantha’s alma mater, Kent Place School. It began again two years before we met when Samantha chose to teach at First Avenue School in Newark, just three blocks from where Aiyana had just moved in with her grandma. It began again four months before we actually met when Samantha started teaching Ellie's best friend and became one of the grade band teachers of Aiyana's cousin, Raquel. It began for the last time when Samantha and Aiyana downloaded Hinge the same weekend, swiped right, and deleted it shortly after. Our first date was the epitome of our life together. First, Samantha had promised to make Aiyana margaritas, only for Aiyana to have to teach her how to make better ones. Second, Samantha had a pet living in her house she did not buy. Third, we sat down to watch a movie both of us were interested in (Midsommar), but instead spent the entire time talking. Within a month of that first date, we were girlfriends. Two weeks later, Samantha met almost ALL of Aiyana's family members as we went through our first of many medical crises, though this one did belong to Aiyana, as she got surgery and Samantha couldn't help herself from running over to Tia Tata's house to make sure she was okay. Our first "I love you"s were said after making Easter Pies with Samantha's family. Three months later, we went to our first wedding together (we love you Dr. Shayna and NIST David!) and brought up our own wedding, which is the moment Samantha knew she’d marry Aiyana. We got engaged twice, because every bride deserves a proposal and a ring on her finger. When Aiyana proposed to Samantha, she honored Samantha’s late grandmother and best friend, Mary Anne Narciso, by proposing to her in the place that reminds Samantha of Gram most: Dyker Heights Christmas Lights. She got down on one knee in front of the house Samantha had loved most since she was a little girl. For Samantha’s proposal to Aiyana, she proposed through a Choose Your Own Adventure game on Christmas Eve in the parking space at Samantha’s old apartment, where Aiyana told Samantha she loved her for the first time. By the day of our wedding, it will be four and a half years of Christmas Cookies, Abuela cheating at games, Pumpkin Picking, stressing about the Outlanders, attending Mets games while Samantha screams about Jeff McNeil and Jesse Winker, movie and game nights with our Astoria friends, Samantha learning more lesbian musicians and TV shows from Aiyana, forcing Alex and Andy to do scavenger hunts in Central Park, racing after Samantha’s dad, Joe, at the Parkinson’s Unity Walk, Goat Story, being so so so proud of all of our younger siblings and cousins in their various, amazing endeavors, and talking all the way through every movie and TV show we watch. We can’t wait for the rest of our lives to keep doing that. Thank you for joining us on that adventure. We couldn’t have made it here without you!