We originally planned to celebrate our wedding on July 25th 2020, two days after our ten year dating anniversary. Due to the unforeseen circumstances of the global pandemic. we decided to postpone our wedding to August 14, 2021. We still got married in a small "minimony" ceremony, but decided to wait to celebrate with our loved ones! It means the world to us to have you celebrate our marriage with us!
Keep on reading for a little more about us, our story, and how we got to where we are today!
We're so glad you're here!
welcome
Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be...
the stats
years we've been together
states we've explored (so Far)
times we've seen pearl jam live
years we plan to be together
nine
eleven
five
infinite
It was one of the first days of the Fall semester at Montclair State University in 2009. I was going to an intro to religion class that I was taking with a friend. I was, of course, running late, as always, and told my friend Julie to save me a seat. It turned out to be a big lecture hall, so there was no lack of seats. But lucky for me Julie sat next to Jen, and that was fundamentally the most important reason that Jen and I met. :)
Fun fact from Jen: To this day I still have Ryan listed in my contacts as "Ryan Religion", since we met in religion class.
it went a little something like this...
How we met
in Ryan;s words:
On July 23, 2010, Ryan took me to the Quick Chek Hot Air Balloon festival. I had told him how I had a fascination with hot air balloons, so he wanted to show me this festival he had gone to a long time ago with his dad. We had such a fun day, got to see all the balloons launch, pet some animals, and of course eat the roasted corn! It was the best day. At the end of the night they had a firework display! As we watched the fireworks, I'll never forget Ryan said to me, "These last few months spending time with you is the happiest I've ever been. The only thing that would make me happier is if you would be my girlfriend." :) Of course I said yes, and the balloon fest has been our anniversary tradition ever since!
This past summer our wedding videographers and good friends Steph & Justin of ToneMedia, came along to the balloon festival with us to create this incredible love story film. :)
it went a little something like this...
our anniversary tradition
in Jen's words:
I seriously was so surprised by the whole thing. I had no inkling, no idea it was going to happen that day. On New Years Eve of 2019 we had a few friends over for a little get together! As midnight approached he started telling people I wanted to play the song "Shout" when the ball dropped. When he told me the idea, of course I said "HECK YEAH!" cause it's my favorite song ever. We all watched the ball drop, and at midnight he cued up "Shout" ! We all started dancing, goofing around, having the best time. Fortunately several people were filming the shenanigans so we have an awesome video of it (click here to watch it!). But at the part in the song where it says "little bit softer now" and you go down, Ryan dropped to one knee. I was obliviously still dancing for a few moments not knowing what was going on. And then I realized. And I was in complete shock, speechless, dropped my noisemaker blower thing on the ground. I eventually said YES and we celebrated the rest of the night with some of our closest friends, FaceTiming family, taking a million polaroids... It was absolutely PERFECT! And the ring was perfect which he picked out all by himself! Everything...it was the best day! I'll never get over it.
it went a little something like this...
How he asked
in Jen's words:
We had originally planned our wedding for July 25, 2020. Like so many others, COVID-19 and the global pandemic threw all of our 2020 plans for a loop! We ended up postponing our wedding to August 14, 2021. Even though our wedding was postponed, after we had spent many long quarantine hours thinking and talking things over, we decided we wouldn't let a little thing like a deadly virus stand in the way of our love and commitment to each other. Two days after our ten year dating anniversary, we had a small ceremony at Verona Park - something called a "minimony" to officially tie the knot with about 30 of our immediate family members and close friends. So, in true 2020 fashion, we'll be having two weddings! We were intentional about making both of these days different, but still connected. One of my favorite parts was our time capsule. We had our guests bring some small token to place in our time capsule at the minimony. You'll see our time capsule on display during our "big wedding" this August! My BFF Tori Kelner photographed our minimony day for us, and you can see more of our wedding day part one on her blog here!
it went a little something like this...
our minimony
