We met at Andrew and Andie’s wedding back in October of 2021. Lauren already had a drink in her hand (I later found out she made it in her hotel room- she’s very frugal), yet I offered to buy her a drink anyway. After about ten minutes of chatting, our alone time was blown up by her entire family. We danced together at the wedding, and our first real date was to the National WWII Museum, where I talked the entire time so she would think I’m smart. After we went our separate ways, we started texting; I didn’t see it going anywhere, with her living in Los Angeles and myself in Tennessee. Two weeks after the wedding, however, I was on a plane to LAX. We spent the weekend together, and I was immediately head over heels. She still needed some time. I weathered the storm over the next two months, until Lauren came with me to my brother Seth’s wedding in south Florida. Somehow, I had even swung it so that we would visit her family together in Virginia after the wedding. At Seth’s wedding, I guess I said the right things because that night, on a party bus, Lauren told me that she loved me. Luckily, there was a restroom at the rear of the bus, where I promptly stood up and heaved the fireball shot I had taken moments before. After Seth’s wedding, Lauren and I began our long distance relationship. We saw one another more or less once a month, and it was absolutely gutting. Now, almost 3 years later, after countless hours of FaceTime, flights, car rides, and surprises, we live together and have started our little family. Things will continue to change, especially over the next year, but home will always be with one another.

I met Sean on October 7, 2021 while he was playing blackjack at a casino in New Orleans, Louisiana during the wedding weekend of Andie and Andrew. I remember him wearing open-toed Birkenstocks and an orange plaid shirt, with his suitcase still with him. The following day, my family and I were walking Bourbon Street when we see Sean and his friends from across the street. I was silently begging my dad not to call out to them, but of course, in typical Craig fashion, he yells, “Hey! I know those guys!” I practically hid while my dad talked to Sean. That night, we briefly talked at the bar before my dad and brother chimed in. We were finally able to break away from my family to dance and laugh all night at Pat O’Brien’s after the wedding. My family left early that Sunday morning. While I was waiting for my flight, Sean and I had brunch at the Ruby Slipper and went to the World War II Museum. I was intrigued by how much he knew about everything while walking through the exhibits and how easy it was to talk (more like listen) to him. Two weeks later, Sean flew to LA to visit me. We had an amazing time together watching seals at Point Dume, boating to Catalina Island, watching the sunset in Santa Monica, and exploring Venice in the rain. We spent the next two months apart and made it official in Boca Grande, FL while celebrating Seth and Natalie’s wedding. As a couple, our long distance relationship was incredibly difficult. Sean went through extreme efforts to plan our monthly visits to see each other, with each goodbye at the airport being worse than the last. I never expected getting laid-off to become such a blessing in our lives, enabling us to finally be together in El Paso. We envision our lives together to be full of adventures, laughter, and love, surrounded by family, friends, and furry four-leggers. To the love I never knew existed, forever and always.