How We Met
The first time we spoke was during our public health graduate degree program’s orientation. We were each other’s last match at the end of a massive round robin networking event. When our two minutes were up, the buzzer rang, and Alex asked to continue talking over coffee, which turned into lunch, which turned into two years of shared adventures.
Since that day, we’ve earned three degrees, rescued two pets, and planned one transcontinental move. He says he knew then what I know now- we are the perfect final match.
How They Asked
Raised by a village of incredible women, I learned at a young age that marriage wasn’t necessary for a happy and fulfilling life. As I grew older, I pursued my own definition of a success, which for a long time, did not include becoming a wife. So when Alex and I decided to make a lifelong commitment to each other, I struggled to reconcile my excitement with my reservations about perpetuating amatonormativity or wedding-related materialism. Together, Alex and I researched and brainstormed how we could approach our engagement and wedding as we would our marriage, as equal partners.
Instead of asking for my father’s permission alone, we spoke with all of our parents and siblings to ask for each of their blessings. Not only were we showered by love and support from both sides, but we were also gifted a beautiful heirloom stone which had been passed down through three generations of women in my family. Alex designed a simple ring with the help of a local, family-owned jeweler, and on the day the ring was ready, he proposed. It was just the two of us on the rooftop of our first home when he asked me to marry him, and it was perfect.
Exactly one week later, I surprised Alex with another proposal. Overlooking our soon-to-be alma mater and the city where we fell in love, I asked Alex to marry me with a watch. And he said yes too! Although his engagement watch is the first of its kind in our family, we hope that it will be an heirloom for generations to come and many more #hesaidyestoo’s.
