The story of how we met is becoming a common one: a carefully calculated algorithm, a well picked set of photos, and two people swiping right. 'Our Story', however, is less common. It is filled with memories and experiences that are completely our own, with a certain charm that is special to us. It is therefore extremely difficult to write, let alone capture concisely. Bear with me as I try.

Our first date was brunch at The Lynhall, a breakfast spot in uptown Minneapolis. We both ordered a black coffee, no cream -- the first of many similarities we would discover that day. We talked about anything and everything: our personal histories, our jobs, our views on the world, and even talked about the ways people search for meaning in life. There was little small talk, we skipped right to the big stuff. He drew me in, and I’d like to think I did the same for him. 4 hours later, we looked up to realize the only other people in the restaurant were the wait staff. Suffice to say, the date went well.

From then, we were a movie montage of fun, food-filled dates and trips to travel to new places. I like to imagine the montage set to Carly Rae’s ‘Run Away with Me’, but feel free to pick your own song. We traveled to Seattle, sampling all the seafood we could fit in our stomachs and taking photos of ducks. We hiked up a mountain in Colorado, ate (and drank) our way through a rainy Boston, danced down Bourbon and Frenchman Streets in New Orleans, and melted through every major city in Japan. Through it all, though my favorite dates are the simpler, everyday ones: the times we went bouldering together, the slow coffee mornings, the nights when we try out the next recipe in our wok cookbook or took a serendipitous walk in downtown Minneapolis. Every date, I fell more in love with his unique charm and the lives we were building together.

After three years together, Konstantin planned a surprise date for us on Christmas Eve. Our first stop was the Glow Festival at the CHS Field baseball field in St. Paul. The whole stadium was decorated in beautiful lights, either wrapped around sculptures of woodland creatures and giant presents, or strung over the walkways. There is something about twinkle lights that always make things feel magical, and that night I felt like I was in a winter wonderland. After walking the entire field and taking a small detour to warm up with a cup of hot cocoa, we made our way to the arched walkway. It was strung with twinkle lights curving overhead, making the stars in the night sky feel right above us, lighting the way in a bright yellow glow. Halfway through the arch, with the twinkle lights making everything feel magical, Konstantin got down on one knee and proposed.

That cold December day seems far away as I write this in the humid heat of August, but in the time since then our relationship has continued to grow and change and strengthen. Between wedding planning and buying our first house together we have faced new challenges together and our dates have taken on new forms. We’ve had less slow coffee mornings and more coffee-fueled house planning meetings and trips to Home Depot. But while writing Our Story is a challenge, concluding it feels impossible because the story isn’t complete. It is going to continue to write itself a little differently each day. So instead of an ending, I’ll leave you with a send off: we are both so excited to celebrate our wedding with each and every one of you and can’t wait to start the next chapter of our story.