Well, friends, we feature love stories on this blog all the time, of all the incredible, badass couples we get to photograph. It goes without saying meeting all of you is truly the best part of our job! But we thought it was high time to dish on another love story…ours! Given that Valentine’s Day is approaching, maybe it’s a great time to tell you our story. Are you ready?
We’re going to start by aging ourselves. That’s right, we met on Myspace. Does anyone remember Myspace? In case you’re too young for those memories, Myspace was kind of like the wild west of social media, where music downloads, crazy embarrassing photos, personality quizzes, and unregulated online dating ran amok. Matt sent a friend request to Teri (can you blame him?), and this piqued Teri’s interest. She definitely wanted to see more, so of course, she accepted.
Our first camping trip, June 2007
We chatted online for a few months, mostly about little things. A little flirty, but mostly surface stuff; just trying to gauge one another. Eventually, we made plans to meet up. It was finally happening! However, this was before the internet was available in the palm of our hands. You had to have someone’s phone number if you wanted to contact them outside of a computer. Well, on the day of our planned date, Matt had a work emergency arise. And because Teri hadn’t shared her phone number with him, he couldn’t call. So he stood her up. On the first date. You can imagine how well that went over.
So, because of this, we fell out of contact with one another for several months. Being stood up on the first date was a total turn-off. Then, one day, Matt was hanging out at the Plymouth, a local bar, and he thought he saw Teri across the room. His heart skipped a beat, and he just had to know. Maybe this was the opportunity for a second chance. So, later that night, he sent her a message on Myspace.
He wasn’t really expecting a response since it was kind of his fault they lost contact before. Still, he was hopeful. She responded! It turned out it wasn’t her at the bar that night, but now their conversations were ignited again, and they kept talking. This time, Teri asked Matt out.
We agreed to meet up the day before Mother’s Day in 2007. We were both so nervous. Like, head-between-your-knees-breathing-in-a-paper-bag nervous. We knew there was something there. This felt like more than a random meeting, more than a fling. This felt real. But we had to know for sure.
As Teri sat at the bar, it seemed like history might repeat itself. She arrived 10 minutes early and sat, drinking a beer for a while. Like, a long while. A half hour to be exact. She began to wonder if this was strike two. Was he standing me up again? Then, 20 minutes late, Matt sauntered into the bar and sat down. Both of our nerves were soon soothed because, this? This felt like coming home.
We talked for hours that turned into days that turned into months and years. And in November of 2010, we found ourselves on vacation in Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. And there, Teri found Matt down on one knee, asking her to walk forward into forever, hand-in-hand, with him. Of course, the answer was a resounding yes.
Engaged in Bonaire, 2010
The road to our wedding was paved with our story and full of people we love. Because, to us, the people we love are what this life is all about. We were married on September 1st, 2012, at Erie Yacht Club. What we remember most vividly about that is how much we wanted to be married and yet how little we knew of what would be ahead of us. Marriage has a funny way of wiping out the expectations and constructs we build and showing us what truly matters in life. And if you’re in it for the long haul, you have to focus on those things that really matter.
Our wedding, September 1, 2012
So, ten years later, in 2022, we celebrated a decade of marriage with a vow renewal ceremony in California’s Wine Country. And, friends, it was absolute perfection. For anyone wishing they could have a redo of their wedding day now that there are a few years under their belt – we highly recommend a vow renewal ceremony.
vow renewal at Baciagalupi Vineyards
We invited our dearest friends, and each one of them played such a personal role in our renewal. Lois, from Quantum Balance, crafted a jaw-dropping ceremony setup and helped us write the most perfect vows. Our photographer and friend, Montana Dennis, blew us away with his art. Our dear friend Jessica made Teri’s dress and surprised us with the amazing color! And all seven of our precious guests read Seven Blessings over us during the ceremony. It was perfect.
Over the course of ten years, it seems a bit simple to count our memories by the numbers…
8 countries visited together
3640 homemade meals together
654,000 bottles of wine enjoyed together (ok we made that one up, even though it’s probably enough to start our own vineyard)
But, truly, it’s in those numbers, those moments, and all the other ones in between that marriage takes root. Where life happens. And so we count the meals, and the travels, and the bottles of wine, because in counting those, we’re counting the blessings of life.
And we’re still counting.
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