We're getting married!

Sarah and Mikko met as researchers at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, brought together by their shared passion for wildlife. Sarah remembers first noticing Mikko as the cute boy with a silly cat tie at a department meeting. Upon being introduced at a work happy hour, Mikko secretly pined for Sarah and many of his friends remember his impassioned rants about his crush on “Hot Jane Goodall.” Eventually, he gathered the courage to suggest that they organize a work social together and what started as lunch breaks to talk about logistics slowly became after-work meetups, concerts with friends, and, eventually, proper dates across the city. Yet the wildlife careers that brought them together would soon be a source of heartache. An opportunity to attend graduate school pulled Mikko to Colorado, and soon after a similar opportunity for Sarah sent her to Brooklyn. Distance was hard, but their love persevered. For nearly two years, their relationship was forced into daily Facetime calls and long flights for short visits; small windows into each other’s daily lives that always felt just too narrow. During this time, both Sarah and Mikko leaned heavily on their friends and family to fill some of that space between them. Eventually, Mikko moved to Brooklyn, finally allowing them to live together for the first time. Naturally, this allowed their relationship to blossom and grow deeper. They explored the city together. They (really, mostly Sarah) planted a garden together. They lived through a pandemic together. Mikko taught Sarah how to identify birds. Sarah taught Mikko how to be a cat parent. But most importantly, they slowly forged connections between those communities that had once bridged the distance that separated them. With each bar hang, concert, and “have you met…” they watched their circles come together. The night before they left Brooklyn, their backyard filled with a community they were both so happy to be part of – a community they’ve continued to build since moving back to Fort Collins. Last year, Mikko proposed to Sarah at the Caldwell Lily Pond in Chicago, where they had shared their first lunch eight years prior. Choosing Chicago for their wedding felt natural—not just as a nod to where their story began, but as a place between the distances that once separated them. Of course, our wedding will be a celebration of our story. But beyond this, we are hoping it will also be a celebration of the warm, loving community that has supported us throughout it. We hope you will be able to join us as part of that community.