Ben grew up in Bradford, PA and Holly grew up in Cazenovia, NY. When Holly was in her senior year at St. Bonaventure University, the owner of a marketing agency in Bradford reached out looking for writers to intern. Holly took the gig, and in May of 2018 moved to Bradford full-time to work at the agency after graduating. In July, one of Holly’s bosses (sensing her friendlessness after moving) invited her to a Fourth of July picnic at Allegany State Park with his family and friends. Lo and behold, that boss was Ben’s brother, Josh. We met that fateful day and began to form a friendship.
In the years following, our friendship grew as we made a lot of fun memories together. [It is here we must importantly mention how almost all of these lifelong memories included having Ben’s sister, Heather, by our side. Those priceless years of non-stop fun and trips and traditions are something we wouldn’t trade for the whole world, and we’re so lucky to have Heather in our lives.] We began to swap interests as we spent more time together — Ben’s infectious love of professional wrestling and campy slashers rubbed off on Holly, and Holly taught Ben about the world of great wine and getting beat in Spades.
In late 2020, our connection became irrefutable. When we were in a room together, it was like two magnets. We began dating and building our future. After we moved in together, it was so fun to explore the new interests that arose: We began an annual vegetable garden and learned new recipes to cook with our harvest, we adopted Wilson and nursed him from death’s door to full health, we re-discovered our mutual love of reading and got library cards.
On July 24, 2021 Ben proposed to Holly at 5:00 AM after we jumped into Willow Bay together at sunrise. On that day, we were hosting a seafood boil party for both of our families so that everyone could meet for the first time. We got to bask in the feeling of being newly engaged surrounded by our family and close friends.
On October 14, 2022 we got married and couldn’t be more excited to start our lives together as a little family — us and our two cats, Wilson and Wasabi.
