Louis and Tori met when they were both hired as assistant directors of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Music committee during their junior year of college at UW-Madison. They were friends for several months, spending dozens of Thursday nights and dozens of dollars at Plaza drinking double long island iced teas for alarmingly low prices before Tori became the committee director in 2014 and Louis could no longer resist his desire to date his boss. After graduation, Louis and Tori spent 3 years in a long-distance relationship while Louis worked as a music teacher in Racine and Tori worked in marketing for their alma mater before they finally moved in together in 2018 and added Rosa Diaz, an incredibly adorable dog with an anxiety disorder, to their family. Their most recent adventure was a cross-country move from Madison, Wisconsin to Ithaca, New York so Louis can pursue his long-time dream of getting his Master’s Degree. They are enjoying exploring their new home in the beautiful Finger Lakes region and Rosa is living her best life as a New Yorker.

Louis planned to propose to Tori by surprising her in Greece while she was on a trip with her mom and sister in March of 2020, but Tori was in the air over the Atlantic Ocean and Louis was at the O’Hare airport when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and travel between Europe and the US was first restricted. Fearing that poor Rosa might be stuck at the dog sitter's house forever if he got on his scheduled flight, he left the airport and began working on Plan B - surprising Tori at baggage claim when she managed to get back from Europe. However, all travelers coming back to America were being screened by the CDC and the incredibly long lines had Tori convinced (and telling Louis) that they would never make their connecting flight. Naturally, they made their connecting flight. So Louis moved on to Plan C, racing home from work, throwing their dog and two shirts into the car, and driving up to Eau Claire to meet the travelers at Tori’s parents’ house. Louis arrived just as an exhausted and extremely surprised Tori was pulling her suitcase into the house and proposed in her parents’ entryway surrounded by luggage and two overexcited dogs. Not exactly the Grecian rooftop he had planned, but absolutely perfect nontheless.

Our wedding was initially planned for May 31st, 2021, but as 2020 dragged on with no end to the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, we made the difficult decision to postpone our celebration until January 8th, 2022. While we felt that this was the responsible choice, we were both incredibly sad to have to wait even longer to become husband and wife, and began to think seriously about making it official sooner. With the help of our dear friend Grace who got ordained in record time, and our families who rearranged their schedules, found an outdoor heater, planned a beautiful dinner, made floral arrangements, and let us take over the front porch, we pulled together a magical evening and tied the knot officially on the day after Christmas, December 26th, 2020 in a tiny ceremony with just our immediate families. While our wedding may not have gone according to plan, nothing in life ever really has, but it's always turned out even better than we imagined. Though we are already legally husband and wife, our "big wedding" (as we've come to call it) is still on, and we cannot WAIT to celebrate our love with you in January of 2022!