He asked, she said "yes"!

While it wasn't quite what we expected, we had a small wedding ceremony with our immediate family on June 26th, 2020. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic is affecting many folks' weddings all over the world, ours included. We had to reduce the number of guests to immediate family only but It was a joyous day, one we'll always remember; partly due to the torrential downpour we received, but also because of the love we felt from both those who could attend and those who could not. We can't thank our families enough for helping us create our perfect day. While we wish the rest of our friends and family could have celebrated with us as well, we are planning on, and looking forward to that celebration in 2021! We will send out a new reception invite when we have a firm date for a larger celebration. A special thanks to Angie Bobzien at Four Lakes Photography (https://www.fourlakesphoto.com) and David Hayes (https://davidhayes1.bandcamp.com/) for photography and ceremonial music. - Sarah and Michael

Like any technical savvy young people these days, we met through the services of match.com. Sarah though Michael had an "interesting" profile, which he took as a compliment. Our first date was at the Alchemy in Madison, WI. Sarah ordered a hamburger with no bun and Michael thought "Oh no, she's one of those people". But "those people" turn out to sometimes be quite charming and lovely and it didn't take long to decide that we wanted to see each other again. We went on a succession of dates after that; walks in the local country parks, dinner and drinks in rural Wisconsin towns. Maybe *how* we met wasn't the most romantic, but all the wonderful things we've done together since have been.

As you all know, we enjoy traveling both domestically and abroad. Our favorite trips so far have been to Iceland and Ireland with our friends Jeannette and Francis, Colorado for some Rocky Mountain Hiking, even Carbondale IL where we got to witness the solar eclipse in 2017. We regularly take weekend trips up to Tom and Becky's "cabin" near Minoqua and out to the Gatzke farm near Wauzeka. Our next adventure will be to Alaska for two weeks for our honeymoon. We are renting a modified van that will house us for the majority of the time but we'll also stay at a lodge and bed and breakfast near Denali National Park.

The whole concept of getting married seems to often get lost in the process of wedding planning. We are fairly simple people and this has afforded us more time to discuss with our parents, friends, and other family, what it takes to really make a marriage work. The wedding will be fun, sure, for that weekend, but we will have the rest of our lives to deal with afterwards. We call ourselves a team. That's what is truly the most important; to always know that you're on a team together and no one succeeds if the team doesn't succeed. We are very good friends, open, honest, respectful. When we disagree, we always hug it out and say I love you and we'll figure it out.