We were both attending Fort Lewis College. Jared, a senior on the basketball team, and Cheyenne, a freshmen on the dance team. It was Snowdown 2016. What's Snowdown, you ask? Snowdown is a Durango-specific holiday that's been around for nearly 50 years to cheer up our little mountain town when the winter hits, and the feeling of isolation increases. There's a theme every year to celebrate for about a week - when we met, it was 80s, baby. Dressed in an 80s outfit as we partied the night away with mutual friends, Jared and his sense of humor caught Cheyenne's attention. From then on, we were pretty inseparable, only made closer by beginning to intertwine in each other's friend groups, interests, and eventually, families. As college was coming to a close for Jared, a decision had to be made. He made Cheyenne his girlfriend after meeting his family at his graduation party - to embark on a four-year long-distance relationship from there. We honored each other's need to complete our professional paths until they could intertwine; Cheyenne completing school in Durango, and Jared building up his career in market research in Denver. Through these four years, we had to build strong communication, compassionate dependability, and unshakeable trust that led us to converge our paths as the global pandemic hit. Cheyenne moved in with Jared and his parents - spending our first year living together in the warm embrace of family, love, and faith as the world we were now faced with, unfolded before us. We bought our first home in March of 2021; savoring our time with one another in each step we were taking. We would have long talks about our aspirations, our fears and hopes of the future, our strengths and weaknesses. Traveling to beautiful South Carolina to learn about and share memories, old and new, with the ever-loving Smith family. Sharing holidays between both our families, creating relationship that cannot be replaced with our siblings, parents, and relatives. The feeling of merging our partnership further increased as we settled into our home, and grew our connection to chosen family here in Denver. Cheyenne knew there was an essential part to our story that we hadn't traveled to yet - and that was meeting Cheyenne's father's side of the family and traveling to his ultimate favorite place in the world. Somewhere that defined his childhood, and brings about a sense of ultimate peace and belonging for Cheyenne. Ketchikan, Alaska. The place that Jared chose to propose to Cheyenne. The best day of our lives. So here we are. Savoring engagement, loving dog-parenthood to our sweet girl, Nala, (who we picked up the DAY we got home from our engagement trip), preparing for lifelong parenthood as our baby boy grows, investing a great deal into our communities through our work, and cherishing this life we've been gifted in sharing together. You are invited to be a part of our cherished wedding day because we cannot imagine sharing it without you. Our loved ones have been integral in our partnership and maintaining our sense of joy, hope, spirit, and colorful connections to our combined histories and cultures. LET'S GET MARRIED! The beautiful photos you see throughout our wedding website, on our save the dates, as well as on our official invite are from our magical engagement. These moments were captured by the unbelievably talented Jodi Garrison, Auntie to Cheyenne.