lets do this

Our story starts at a bonfire in 2009 in a backyard on Hershey Way, when Sydney hosted a bonfire where our mutual friends invited AJ. He had heard about her, but they had never spoken, and after going our separate ways our paths didn't cross again for a few years. Then, at Apple Valley High School, we became friends. We ran in a similar circle and occasionally spent time around one another. We sat by each other in math class while Sydney spent weeks deleting all of AJ's unread emails for him (now it's the opposite problem...) and chatted here and there outside of school but that was all. Up to that point, just friends.

After high school, Sydney went to the University of Minnesota and AJ attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Despite the distance, we kept in touch even more than when we lived near each other growing up. Whenever AJ came back to the cities, we made sure to see one another, even for just a quick visit. It was daily FaceTimes, quick texts, and Snapchats back and forth. Sydney visited Madison a handful of times during our sophomore year as well. We were best friends, plain and simple. Everyone else thought we were more; however, we always made it clear that that was NOT the case. Then one day, in the fall of 2016, AJ did the unforgivable... He caught feelings. After telling Sydney how he felt, all the talking stopped for a couple of weeks while we tried to figure out how it would affect the great friendship we had already established. Then, when home on Thanksgiving holiday, we met up and decided we were going to go for it. It was November 24, 2016.

After dating for about 5 years, we were heading to Madison to visit some friends and do Badger gameday during the fall of 2021, and on the way decided to stop at our favorite hiking spot we would frequent when Sydney would visit AJ in Madison. It was a cold and rainy day, so Sydney was trying to skip hiking and go straight to Madison. Little did she know, AJ had a friend waiting at a lookout spot to capture the upcoming moment. As we hiked, the sun peeked out and the rain stopped. Once at our favorite view, AJ dropped to a knee and popped the question. After an emphatic "YES", we made our way to Madison to celebrate with our friends. Now, we live in St. Louis Park, MN with our dog, Mabel. After 6 years, we are still best friends and are so excited to have you all come to celebrate us on our big day! We look forward to seeing you at the Atrium on September 3, 2023.