Hey everyone, so sorry for the inconvenience. We have had to postpone the wedding until a date that will work better for us. We hope to be able to post our engagement pictures soon (yes, we did just get those done... this is what happens when two medical students try to wedding plan) in the meantime! When we do get married, it will likely be a very small ceremony with just immediate family.

If you ask how we met, we'll normally say "in orchestra" and leave it at that... We did in fact meet in a full orchestra rehearsal where I told Zac a few of my best dirty orchestra jokes, and then we parted ways after the concert. The complete story of how we got together involves a night at O' Bannons, some Student Bonfire shenanigans, and a year or so of him desperately trying to win me over (or was it the other way around?). Now we are both pursuing our MD's at Mcgovern and Texas A&M EnMed in the Texas Medical Center and making the best of Houston life! Some of our favorite things to do together are playing music, drinking WAY too much coffee, seeing the Houston Symphony, camping, and co-parenting Moscato! We are so excited to celebrate our love with you guys and for married life! The punchline of my joke was a little different when I told Zac, but I like the new one better: What does a brass player get when he sees a pretty bassist? MARRIED!

It was about as inconvenient a weekend as we could pick to go see some Arkansas fall colors - Jackie had to finish a molecular genetics paper, and I had to use McDonald's wifi to take a quiz and do Zoom school on our way there. A tense, long car ride later, we made it to Lake Ouachita State Park. We didn't make it to our campsite until after dark. It was cold. It was wet. We were seriously doubting whether this was the right call. But we woke up to a cool misty morning with red, yellow, and orange all around us. We made our coffee. The mist gave way to a quiet blue sky. We cooked a breakfast that was too big for us, as we always do. Then, we started hiking on the banks of Lake Ouachita. The hike was incredible in every single way. I remember seeing the mossy trail, the old trees and their orange leaves, the rolling hills weaving in and out of the lake. But most of all, I remember seeing Jackie. I realized on that hike that she was my person. That I wanted to build a life with her. That I needed her to be my hiking partner from here on out. We lingered on a spot right by the water. The joy, peace, and love I felt on that bank was nothing I had ever experienced. We knew there was something special about this spot, but we didn't know why. We even started crying when we had to leave. Not just tears, either. I'm talking some seriously ugly crying. It was sad to leave this moment of joy behind. But I promised Jackie we'd be back to our spot some day. On June 3rd, 2021, we went back. This time, Moscato carried an extra special present for Jackie in her bow. This time, we didn't leave our joy behind.