We still do!

They met at freshman orientation at American University. First noticing each other from across the quad, they ended up in the same orientation group and became fast friends following an icebreaker where they said their names and an adjective to describe themselves. "Loopy Lou" and "Silly Soph" have been cemented nicknames since that fateful day in summer 2012.

Through college, Louis spent his summers firefighting for the US Forest Service in Oakridge, Oregon. Apparently he talked about Sophie so much while they were out camping and waiting for action that at one point his crew mates picked up some charcoal from the ground and drew a picture of Sophie and Louis together as stick figures on the back of his uniform. Sophie spent a summer abroad in Belgium and then a semester in Australia, so they got extra used to long distance. When Sophie graduated a year before Louis and headed to grad school at Cornell, there was never a question they'd make it work.

In summer 2017 they moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- a place neither of them had really ever been before. They embarked on their biggest adventure yet and grew to love Pittsburgh and made wonderful friends. It was a time of transition for both of them, exploring what made them happy, what motivated them, and what they couldn't live without. They grew up together in Pittsburgh, which was such a cool thing to do with a best friend and partner in crime.

On February 14th, 2020, they landed in Auckland, New Zealand to begin a three-week vacation. They immediately drove a couple hours so Louis could drag Sophie up the biggest mountain in Waikato, the part of New Zealand where he'd worked on his Uncle Stuart's dairy farm. The mountain is called Te Aroha, meaning "The Mountain of Love" or "The Loved One" in Maori. After a short uphill four-hour hike, they walked up to this great overlook and could see the Pacific Ocean while the wind whipped around them. Louis got down on one knee and asked Sophie to marry him with a Steven Hawking quote: "If someone every truly loves you in life, it's a precious thing and you shouldn't waste it." It was especially special as Sophie's grandparents had also been engaged on Valentine's Day! And then they hiked back down the mountain -- it was very glamorous.

Just after Thanksgiving 2020, Louis and Sophie were married at a beautiful, renovated, historic firehouse-turned-restaurant in Pittsburgh's Strip District. They had eight guests, just immediate families. Fun fact -- they legally married themselves, something you can do in Pennsylvania that has roots in Quaker traditions! But really, they had well over 100 guests Zooming in from around the world. It was an incredibly perfect day, they felt so loved, and met their goal of getting married before their 10-year dating anniversary!