We will have been married for over a year already at our wedding in October, which means we 100% aren't wasting your time. We want to do this thing forever. And this time we want to do it surrounded by our favorite people. Rain, snow, sunshine, fire, alien abduction, global pandemic*, come what may–we're doin' it. **We request that you do not attend if you have chosen not to get vaccinated from COVID-19. We have immunocompromised family members and common sense.

I had spent the last weekend in Austin, Texas on a girl's trip. We downloaded Bumble and had a photoshoot to make my profile look good (as you do). We swiped right on every guy and messaged all of them "hey, how the hell are ya?" then never messaged them again. The night I got home, I sat on my couch feeling giddy from the two glasses of wine I'd had on the flight. I opened the app one more time–why not? Swiped on a dude with "A Canadian in SD" written in his bio. Very little other information. Two photos. A bit sus, but it was a match so I sent him my best greeting: How the hell are ya? He responded right away and we haven't stopped talking since. We packed in a ton of dates while Ian was in San Diego in November/December 2019 then again when he came back for a month in January 2020. I flew to Toronto and stayed with him for a week in March 2020. I told Ian I loved him on a hike outside of the city. He carved our initials into a tree. The week after I flew home, the world shut down. Those first months of the pandemic, my mental health took a huge L. Through it all, Ian was my lifeboat. We spent every waking moment in communication with each other. We were both alone in our apartments on opposite corners of the continent, but it felt as though we were together. This was our daily setup for watching movies together: Apple headphones plugged into our phones on FaceTime Audio Laptops with FaceTime Video, no sound (to avoid the echo) Big headphones over the apple pods with movie audio. It was a lot of work, so we decided we should just be together in person... OK there's more to the story. The border between the US and Canada was closed for everyone except for immediate family. Every month the closure was extended again and we didn't know when it would open (good call by us because it still hasn't). With every sense of normalcy taken away, one thing became clear: we need to prioritize what actually matters. For us, that meant marriage.

Picture this: it's November 2019. It is pre-pandemic; people still traveled without feeling guilty. I didn't know the world was about to change in a few months, but I needed a change of scenery. I decided to go to San Diego for some much-needed sun. I stayed with a close friend with a busy schedule of events he liked to drag me along to. I decided it would be wise for me to have a partner at these events. I loaded up a dating app with the hopes of making a friend. Luckily, I didn’t need the app long as I matched with Allie. I loved her look and the way she carried herself in the bio. I was immediately attracted to Allie's sense of humor and the way she views life. Another big selling point was that she was a local San Diegan, who would not want to meet a local girl, right? Could show me around, teach me all of the histories a local could offer but not this local… On our first date, she took me to Mission Bay, where the tour was filled with information like, “that’s a seagull” and “it turns out this place is kinda gross." Regardless of her tour-giving skills, it did not take long for us to connect. I remember thinking she was like a ray of sunshine. Before I began dating I made a list of qualities that are important to me. After meeting Allie, I checked that list and found she matches all of those qualities. While I was in SD, we went on a dozen or more dates. After falling for Allie, I eventually returned to Toronto. We made a plan for her to come to visit me there. This was a big deal and a big trip, but it went off without a hitch! After a wonderful week in Toronto, Allie flew home and a few days later the pandemic officially shut everything down and we were shipwrecked in our own apartments. Our 21st date together was our elopement by the Wedding Tree in Jackson Hole. 21 dates to marriage. That’s all it took for Allie and me to join our lives together. Well that and a global pandemic and months of longing and separation, you know the usual stuff

We chose Jackson Hole, Wyoming because we like spending time in nature and the COVID case count was super low there at the time. The morning of our August 31st ceremony, it rained. We had coffee and wrote out our vows (they were 5 pages each, but we promise to spare you at this wedding). I put on my makeup while following a bridal makeup YouTube video and FaceTiming my cousins. Ian helped me zip up my dress and we hit the road for the Grand Teton National Park. It snowed. In August. The ice caused a car accident on the highway and we sat in full wedding garb in our rental car for three. hours. Ian took a nap and I took several deep breaths. When we finally made it we were two hours late, but our only guests were the officiant and photographer so no one was mad. We hiked up a trail to the Wedding Tree in matching white Converse sneakers. The Wedding Tree is made up of two trees that grew against each other to create an arch. Beneath the tree stood a doe and a stag–serene and staring. You can't make this shit up. We stared back until they disappeared in the sagebrush. Our ceremony was special and beautiful and intimate and freezing cold. We exchanged vows and rings and smooches and then picked up a pizza on the way back to our Air BnB. It's how we got here and we wouldn't change it for a single damn thing.