As you may know, we have gone from dating, to engaged, to married in about a month and a half. This has proved exciting for us and confusing for many others. Although we could not be happier to announce our marriage to everyone, we know that many of our loved ones were unable to share and experience our special day. This package is a poor substitute to experiencing the ceremony itself, but hopefully this letter will capture our love and commitment in the same special way.
Some of you are probably aware that we met in college. Justin went to Hampden- Sydney College and Lindsey went to Longwood University down the road in the exciting Farmville, Virginia. It is hard to say exactly what brought us together, but we are pretty sure we owe Vanilla Ice for setting us up. How many people can say this? A mutual friend introduced us shortly after they met at a particularly terrible Vanilla Ice concert. Evidently the $1 ticket wasn't too much to pay to start the path to meeting your future spouse? Neither of us were single at the time and only spent time with each other when Lindsey's sorority events brought Justin around. This was nearly 7 years ago and unbeknownst to us, the start of a new chapter in our lives.
We both remember different moments throughout the early days of our friendship. Justin's favorite memory is when he was hanging out in the chapter room of Lindsey's sorority. He was talking to some of the sisters when he first laid eyes on this freckled, Irish maiden. She ran into the room and playfully tackled a sorority sister. As the two of them were wrestling, Lindsey had a small wardrobe malfunction, squealed, blushed, and ran out of the room in shame. She didn’t return that evening. Justin just shook his head and thought, "That was weird, but cute!"
Lindsey's favorite memory was when she was having a formal sorority event and had brought her current boyfriend to the dance. She knew then that they would be breaking up soon, but she hadn't decided her plan of action just yet. She was embarrassed to find her boyfriend standing in the chapter room before our formal pictures asking people to help him with his tie. Justin, looking sharp as always, walked over to him and tied a perfectly shaped Windsor knot with one try and in record time (there is photo evidence of this). Lindsey knew then that he was something special. She found out later that this Knight in Shining Armor was now single and she tucked this information in her pocket for a later date.
Eventually our paths crossed at the right moment and we have spent 6 wonderful years together. The first several years of dating was spent in college and hanging out with Lindsey’s sorority and Justin’s rugby team. Let’s just say, it was a good time. When Justin received his job with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Northern Virginia our relationship was tested. Somehow we pulled through and Lindsey found a teaching job in the same area a year later. Throughout our years of dating we have experienced many things as individuals and as a couple, but we have always been there for one another to share in the excitement, humor, and sadness. We strongly believe our best quality as a couple is our ability to laugh and joke about anything and everything. There is no denying that we sometimes get carried away and lost in our own little world of sarcasm and witty banter, but this is why we are still wildly in love and the best of friends.
Let’s fast forward to the current year. Justin had been planning an elaborate vacation to Europe over the New Year’s holidays as an exciting way for us to spend our annual vacation with one another, but little did Lindsey know that he was secretly planning to propose on New Year’s Eve! However, God had other plans…
Two months ago, Justin pursued and received a very prestigious position with PwC’s growing Financial Services Consulting practice based in Zurich, Switzerland. We were ecstatic when we heard the news of this new position and Justin accepted it with little to no hesitation. Afterall, opportunities like this don’t come along often. Starting in January, he will be a Senior Consultant in their Strategy, Operations and Business Technology group and will spend the next two to three years helping the firm grow their consulting relationships with large international banking institutions such as UBS and Credit Suisse.
This obviously put a small kink in Justin’s proposal plans since the vacation to Europe was suddenly being replaced by a move to Europe! On one of the many nights that Justin was stuck on a plane flying back home from working with a client elsewhere in the country, Justin pondered how he would propose to Lindsey now that his vacation plans had to be cancelled. He knew he couldn’t leave for Zurich without Lindsey, so he decided he didn’t want to wait a minute longer.
Lindsey typically picks him up from the airport on Thursday nights, but instead he called her and said he was going to take a cab instead. He had the cab swing by his home to grab the engagement ring that had been hiding in his safe for nearly six months. He rushed to Lindsey’s apartment and found her cooking hotdogs, lounging about in a Duke Basketball T-shirt, and talking his ear off. The nerves were setting in when he finally got down on one knee in the hallway of her apartment and proposed. Lindsey of course cried, said yes, and fell to the floor to give him a bear hug. It is hard to remember a more surprising and exciting moment.
We talked for hours about all the options for marriage and moving. We thought we had devised a plan that would give us the best of both worlds and decided to have two separate ceremonies. The first would be an informal ceremony with the Justice of the Peace where we would invite immediate family and keep things light and simple. The second would be exactly a year from that date where we would have a larger celebration to include our extended family and friends (i.e. everyone receiving this letter).
Part one of the plan was completed on Thursday, November 10th, 2011. We were married in Arlington, Virginia in front of a civil celebrant and our parents. This intimate wedding ceremony was held in a run down, dank hallway of a lawyer’s office building, with poor lighting and no seating. We thought it was perfect. Sometimes situations like this in life allow one to focus more on what really matters; the love that we have for each other. This ceremony, in all of its awkwardness, had a priceless sense of charm and we left there feeling overjoyed and complete. This led us to our decision not have a second ceremony. We do wish that more had been able to share our special moment with us, but we hope that everyone understands and continues to support us and our lives together.
The next plan of action is to spend the Christmas holidays with family in Roanoke and Richmond, Virginia and then leave for Zurich, Switzerland before the New Year. We hope to keep regular contact with everyone and have provided our contact information at the end of this letter. Please know that we love you all and are thankful to have people in our lives who care for and love us the same way. Let us know if you ever need a place to stay in Switzerland!
Love and happiness,
Justin and Lindsey
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