Better In Every Single Way, Every Single Day
Rachel & David
Inns of Aurora | Aurora New York Wedding Film
We met in D.C, grew together in San Francisco and made it official in NYC. We in many ways embody the statement, opposites attract!
Inns of Aurora | Aurora New York Wedding Film
We met in D.C, grew together in San Francisco and made it official in NYC. We in many ways embody the statement, opposites attract!
We met 5 years ago and instantly had a very intimate connection; having both previously been in long term relationships, we knew what we had felt different and with that said, things got serious very quickly. After a few months of spending time together, Kristi mentioned how perfect Mike’s backyard would be for a dog. At the time, Mike lived in a huge lake house with 3 other single guys and his younger, reckless sister– a post-grad frat house some would call it. Not two weeks after the dog comment, Mike Amazon-Prime’d (not actually, but the transaction was just as fast) a 9 week old Siberian husky to the lake house, and told Kristi she would need to be the primary care taker since he was always away for work. That led to Kristi moving into the aforementioned frat lake house, which turned into Kristi being the mom of the house- doing everyones laundry and making sure the beer cans were cleaned up before Monday rolled around. It wasn’t long before we moved into our first apartment, which then led to our second apartment, a town house, and just recently our forever home. Over the years we’ve spent together we have both grown up significantly, and have accomplished many of our goals both as individuals and together.
When we began officially dating we were long distance and splitting time between Boston and New York City, but it was pretty clear pretty quick that this was a forever thing. I transferred to my company’s New York office and we moved in together in Brooklyn Heights in 2017. We added a roommate to our cozy one bedroom on Sidney Place a year later – Hudson! Hudson is the sweetest and largest cavalier king Charles spaniel. We had a wonderful three years in the city, before the madness of March 2020 motivated us to move upstate to my hometown. On our original wedding weekend in 2020 we ended up buying a lot in Ballston Spa (just 10 minutes from where we would say I do in 2021!) and started building our home. The rest of our story is yet to be written!
Freya and Jack met in Chinese class at The University of Michigan in the fall of 2009. They would frequently study together and eat lunch together quickly becoming friends. In the fall of 2011 they started dating. After college, their individual pursuits took them all over the world and throughout U.S., but upstate New York brought them together just as the pandemic began. By December 2020 they were engaged and ready for their next adventure!
A lot of our story has to do with our love of adventure and for each other and being together. When we graduated undergrad, Brett got a job still in the area so I could finish my graduate degree and we could be together. By the time I finished my masters degree, covid was in full swing. During covid, we bounced around from my parents house in Buffalo, NY, to his parents and his brother’s house in Austin, TX. We road tripped with our dog, Dasher, to Cape Cod, MA, Nashville, Austin, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. In 2021 while we were on our road trip in Colorado, Brett got a call that he got a job in Seattle. From Colorado, we drove to Washington with only the belongings we had in the car and got a place. Now living in Washington with a house and now two dogs, we travel around Washington hiking, camping, snowboarding, skiing and doing all the things we love. All of the things we’ve done have been done together.
We’ve been together for 11 years and have had so many adventures together, from living in Ithaca to Dallas to San Francisco, through multiple jobs, apartments, buying a home, and caring for two puppies. George proposed at our favorite beach with our two puppies running happily about. Melanie’s family was waiting to celebrate when we returned home.
Early on, we bonded over our shared love of practicing the “spirited” parts of our Irish heritage. On most Wednesdays you can find us at our favorite Irish pub’s weekly trivia night. On question 13 the pub pauses trivia questions to do an Irish toast complete with Irish whisky. Slainte!
We’re both longtime Buffalo Bills fans and enthusiastically cheer them on every game either from our couch or in person at the Ralph – no matter the weather!
We share the mentality that life is too short to take too seriously and will never pass up an opportunity to dress up like idiots.
Like every child in the North Country, Mike practically came out of the womb wearing skates and has been playing hockey since he can remember. Meg crossed off a bucket list item when she signed up for an adult learn-to-play-hockey program in early 2020. Even though we’re at very different skill levels, we enjoy cheering each other on and even playing together every once in awhile!
In case you haven’t noticed – we have a dog! Boomer is 80% cotton ball, 20% Napoleon and 100% our sweet, spoiled boy. He brings joy and laughter to our lives and we love him to pieces.
We both love to travel and each did a fair bit of it before we met each other. We’ve been lucky enough to travel to Hawaii and Banff, Canada together and are headed to Tanzania and Zanzibar next month for our honeymoon!
The Proposal:
After some hint dropping by Meg (subtlety varies based on who you ask) Mike popped the question on Saturday morning December 18, 2021! Mike had a dog tag made that said “will you marry me”, put it on Boomer’s collar and waited for Meg to notice. When she finally did, Mike produced the most beautiful ring Meg has ever seen. After saying, “is this real?!”, once or twice Meg followed it up with “Yes of course!”