The Mixers

David and I met for the first time in 2013 at a Bible study that would later become our home church. We weren't anything more than acquaintances, but I recognized him as one of the people in the band that played for Vintage, the college-age program at The Chapel in East Amherst. I recognized him as "the guy with the cool blue bass." (His electric bass is *really* cool!) After I was able to attend church again in May of 2017 after my years as a music student at Buffalo State, we met for the second time, and I remember thinking, "Oh, hey, it's the guy with the cool blue bass." It wasn't until I joined the worship team as the guitarist and violinist and David joined again on bass and percussion that we started to become friends. Fast forward to February(ish) of 2018, and David and I consistently found ourselves in conversations about all sorts of topics after each church service. What started out as being acquaintances had blossomed into a really great friendship. Some time passed, and we realized that we both had caught feelings for the other, and so we decided to have our first date on May 28, 2018. We kayaked over by the Naval Park in Buffalo, and had dinner at Dinosaur BBQ (David can't say no to BBQ!) After that day, we've been happily together ever since, and the rest is history!

David proposed while we were staying in Lynchburg, Virginia with his brother, Daniel, his wife, Dee, and kids at Christmastime. All I said I wanted for Christmas was a really fancy dinner, and so David had planned an evening out for us. (Did I intentionally set him up for success? Maybe... But we won't mention that!) David and I got all dressed up and headed out to dinner on December 28. It was a moderately cool evening, and we decided to take a pre-dinner stroll along the boardwalk near where our restaurant was in the historic part of Downtown Lynchburg. He had given me a little gift bag with a Christmas present in it, and he told me to carry it with me as we walked. We stopped at a lookout on the bridge, and the sunset over the river was simply beautiful. Indeed, creation itself declares the glory of God, and it was so evident at that moment! David tells me to open my Christmas present, and after digging around for what felt like ten minutes in the little bag, I pulled out a jewelry box. While I was rummaging in the bag, David had slowly dropped to one knee, and when I had looked up at him, he was gone! I looked down and exclaimed, "OH!" With big smiles on our faces I opened the box and saw the most beautiful ring, one of three I had picked out. It was up to David to make the final decision so it would be a surprise, and he picked the one I was secretly favoring, of course! With a big "yes!", we sealed the deal and went back towards the restaurant, where we had one of the best filets of sea bass I have ever had (and that's a big statement, coming from a girl who lives for food...) We planned our wedding for April 20, 2022, so we had four months to plan. Our ceremony was held at Lovejoy Gospel Church in Lancaster, NY. We held a very small, private ceremony with immediate family plus our best man and his wife, and it was wonderful. We had a lovely photographer who sent us many excellent family photos. I love looking back at them and seeing how immensely proud my Dad was that day, and I will always keep those photos so close to my heart. We are so very excited to be able to have a public ceremony and reception this summer and have you all celebrating with us!

We are currently living in Rochester, NY. I am working in the RCSD as an orchestra teacher for grades 3-6, and David is the owner of an IT company. I have a few private violin students, and also work at an amazing restaurant called Ox & Stone that I absolutely love. So far, we love Rochester and the opportunities God has given us here. We are currently serving on the worship team at our church, and have been whole-heartedly welcomed into a wonderful community there. We love being able to make music together and share our gifts with the church community. I have grown to love cooking and experimenting with new, healthy recipes and fresh ingredients, and David enjoys eating them! We love spending quality time together and finding new WWII and other war movies to watch, and are currently working our way through Yellowstone (no spoilers, please!)