We hope you can join us for our wedding! As you may know, we have recently relocated to Omaha, Nebraska. We chose to have our wedding in Sioux City, Iowa, Tom's hometown. We will be getting married at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, which is the same church where Tom's grandparents and parents were married. For family and friends who can't make it to Sioux City: Jamie's parents will be hosting a smaller reception in Colorado on Saturday, December 14th. More details to come!

Our story began in March 2018. Jamie works for Loyola University Chicago and the Loyola Ramblers had just made the March Madness tournament for the first time in 30 years. Like a true fan, she made the trek to the first round of the March Madness tournament in Dallas, Texas. She booked a one-way flight to Texas with only two nights in a hotel, not entirely sure that the team was going to make it too far. After two buzzer beater wins, Loyola quickly became the Cinderella story of March Madness. Tom, living in Texas, was also lucky enough to get tickets to the March Madness games thanks to his brother, Christopher. On March 17, 2018, both Tom and Jamie found themselves at the Happiest Hour, where Loyola was celebrating their win over Tennessee. Tom's friend James had picked up a Tennessee pom pom after the game to bring home to his daughters. Feeling a little more brave than usual after the win, Jamie approached James and Tom jokingly asking "why these Tennessee fans were in the Loyola bar?" James shared that he had picked up the pom pom for his daughters. After taking her foot out of her mouth, conservation between Tom and Jamie flowed until bar close. After countless conversations, trips, and lots of ups (not as many downs) we realized this was the real deal. Not everyone has to travel 1000 miles to meet their soulmate, but we are forever thankful that these chance events brought us together forever.

Having thought of many different proposal ideas, Tom landed on the perfect one when both of their families were visiting Chicago and meeting for the first time at the end of March. Tom and Jamie discussed they wanted their families’ blessing before getting engaged. This posed a small problem as Tom wanted to ask Jamie’s parents for their blessing in person. So, Tom decided to fake a work trip to Denver at the beginning of March, which happened to be the same day as a major blizzard, affectionately named the bomb cyclone by the Denver meteorologists. Flights were cancelled and the airport closed. Jamie got upset with Kiewit that they were still sending Tom on this “work trip.” Little did she know, it wasn’t a work trip at all. After delays and rescheduled flights, Tom made is way to Denver the next day, had one slightly nervous lunch with Jamie’s parents, and flew back ready to propose. Parents weekend started off without a hitch and it was going to be a pretty laid back weekend. The only “must do” thing on the agenda was both families wanted to tour the Loyola campus. After brunch on Saturday, March 23, the families headed up to the campus. After Jamie provided way too much detail about the campus, the group came upon the chapel, Madonna della Strada - a beautiful chapel that faces east and opens directly to Lake Michigan. It’s also Jamie’s home parish. When going to Mass there, Tom noticed how beautiful it was and knew he would propose outside of the chapel on the lake. After touring the inside of the chapel, the families made their way outside. First there was a parents picture, then a picture of Jamie and Tom. At that time, Tom got down on one knee and proposed. Jamie was shocked, and said yes! Tom then whisked the whole group away to a bar to celebrate. Tom surprised Jamie with a gathering of 30+ friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings (many traveled from Iowa!) after the engagement. It was the perfect way to celebrate the perfect day.