Stefanie and Ali met through an online dating website in October, 2017. Stefanie was aboard a Eurostar for a quick business trip to work, and Ali was bored before his first client meeting of the day. As with most dating site romances, the path to true love did not run smoothly. Ali asked Stefanie out on Halloween, but she cancelled due to a work crisis at the last minute. Ali took several days to decide if Stefanie was worth the effort (obviously, she is). Stefanie further delayed their meeting with a trip back to the US. On the eve of their re-planned first date, Ali suggested a really cool and interesting fall rooftop pop up bar, which Stefanie declined because it was south of the Thames. Resilient as ever, Ali pitched the cool and chic looking Six Stories. They agreed to meet in the late afternoon once Stefanie finished some holiday shopping (as it was now mid-November). Their first date was a cold, rainy, blustery November London day (there really aren’t any other kinds of London days). Stefanie told Ali she would meet him in the Café Royal, minutes before they were to meet she texted her friend Beth that it was going to be the best or most boring date she had ever had (turns out, both thought the other was boring because their conversations were one-dimensional). Ali waltzed into the café, sat down and immediately teased Stefanie for her half eaten cake and two cups of coffee. Clearly, she had ordered the worst cake on the menu. The rest of the date was all laughs, as Six Stories was a complete bust and required relocating to a Brexican (British Mexican) restaurant, waiting for 45 minutes, being served in less than 10 minutes, and Stefanie rushing to make the last train. Ali told her he wouldn’t call her the next day, or ask her out again, but did anyway (famous last words, Ali). The rest is history!
For the first year, Stefanie and Ali lived 70 miles apart. Or, in terms of travel: a 23-32 minute drive to a train station, 3 minutes to park, 2 minutes to purchase a ticket, 10 minutes to get a coffee, and a 35 minute train. Partially because of this, and partially because they really liked each other, Stefanie and Ali suddenly started planning their time together in advance. Which meant a lot of driving back and forth to the Bedford train station. Stefanie rarely left the house on time, but it's ok, she had the drive down to a science. On one such occasion she sent Ali his favorite text message: “Duck Lexington Know”. Autocorrect has a sense of humor sometimes. Stefanie and Ali found a love of traveling, coffee, London, and most of all each other. Most importantly, they always have laughter. We are excited to be entering the next chapter of our lives as husband and wife! We’re so thankful some of our family and friends will be joining us in Las Vegas for our elopement, and know the rest of you will be there in spirit. We’ll be having a reception next year and look forward to celebrating with you then!