It is said that a siren’s call lures men to their watery graves. For Jake Luebeck, a siren’s call lured him to a fate far more formidable and permanent- marriage. Away from the shoreline, sitting just at sea level, Barbarella’s of one Houston, Texas welcomed Jacob on Halloween weekend of two thousand and seventeen. Upon the dance floor a siren, clearly indicated by her seashell crown and known by the title Shannen Soffar, danced with a beautiful deer and George Michael (known to some as wedding party members Mallory Brace and Ty Hughes). Jake, unaware of what awaited him that fateful night, was out with fellow humans and wedding party members Cary Hess and Bradley Hayes. Atop the club’s rooftop terrace, Jacob and Bradley approached the siren, deer, and pop icon. After Shannen made jest of Jake and Bradley, the group parted ways as each set of friends headed to get drinks and dance. Unbeknowst to each other, both Jake and Shannen began a quest to find each other again- feeling an ineffable pull towards one another. When Shannen “accidentally” bumped into Jake while “looking for Mallory” who was clearly in her line of vision, she grabbed the tall, spectacled human’s phone to plug her number in. Asking if he remembered her name, Shannen watched as Jake’s face went pale. She entered her number with the pseudonym “Cute Girl”. Shannen awoke the next day to a text message reading “Hey it’s Jake from the other night. We should kick it some time.” It had not even been 8 hours since they met. It seemed he has heeded the siren’s call… and decided to call the siren. Paragraphs were sent back and forth to one another via text. Friends and family shook their heads as they witnessed the two write what seemed to be novels to each other each passing day. After more lengthy texts and Jake eventually figuring out Shannen’s name, Jake asked Shannen on a date- but she left town. He asked her again- she got bronchitis. One month and thousands of texted words later- they finally went on a date. Thanks to grabbing ice cream after dinner, a joke from Jake that an empty furniture store was “new and super minimalist”, and a goodnight kiss, the two had a second date not long after and fell disgustingly in love. We have discovered so much about each other and the world in the past five years. We’ve traveled quite a bit- from the beautiful skies of West Texas to the shining shores of Nice. We’ve been lucky enough to eat pasta in Milan, fondue in Zurich, brownies in Amsterdam, drink beer in Brussels, and sip milk tea in Hong Kong. We have been by each others’ side through surgeries and hospital stays, job losses and career shifts, and most recently- Jake’s acceptance and attendance to graduate school. Shannen is now a creative strategist working in social media, and their small pup Sherlock has become a big brother to the much bigger Sedona Arizona- the Great Pyrenees Shannen gifted Jake for the holidays. She’s named after the surreal city where Jake proposed on top of Lover’s Knoll, next to a scared wedding tree and overlooking chapel rock. We love wandering museums until closing time, eating at restaurants Jake researches extensively, binging seasons of Stranger Things, destroying bosses in video games, telling people 2 miles is a “quick walk”, and forcing each other to stop doing whatever the other is in the middle of to look at “how cute the dogs are being right now”. We feel absurdly blessed to have found each other in this lifetime. It’s often shocking to realize we’ve continued to fall in love. We have yet to leave the honeymoon phase of dating, so our apologies for how long the honeymoon phase will last following our wedding. We have a feeling it very well may be the rest of our lives. If you’re reading this, please know how much you mean to us. We are excited to celebrate our love story with you and can’t thank you enough for being part of this chapter of our lives.