Our Story

Our story began on August 15th, 2015, at the wedding our dear friends Shelly & Brad Schlessman. Though fate never had us meet before their wedding, the festivities that night left sparks that wouldn’t be rekindled until months later. 

Fast forward to the holiday season of 2015, Shelly and Cara were out celebrating some long overdue time together when liquid courage gave Cara the nerve to ask Shelly about Steve. Shelly admitted that her and Brad were hoping they would play matchmakers at their wedding. After a quick text to Brad for Steve’s number, and a note from Brad that said, “Good Luck, he is moving to Seattle”, Shelly and Cara enjoyed the rest of the evening texting with Steve and the connection was made.

Steve and Cara continued to keep in touch over the next few months, but it wouldn’t be until Valentine’s Day weekend of 2016 that Steve and Cara would finally re-connect while Steve was in DC for a work conference for the weekend.  It was a weekend full of long nights out in the city and endless conversation, and the sparks were flying!  It was also this weekend that Steve was officially offered a job in Seattle.  Though Cara & Steve discussed the job, they had no idea what a large piece of their life that offer would be at the time. 

Steve and Cara spent the next several months with visits between Columbus and Maryland. It was during an epic trip to Athens, OH with Shelly and Brad in April of 2016, when Cara and Steve decided they were going to give the long distance thing a shot.   A few weeks later, Steve made the big move to Seattle to start his job at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and Cara made her first visit to Seattle Memorial Day weekend... the rest is history. 

The next year and half would be countless hours spent on planes, Google chats, phone calls, and travel back and forth across the 2,700 miles and 3 time zones.   So many memories were made and shared during that time. Cara and Steve thoroughly enjoyed being able to explore Seattle together, and Seattle will always be a very special city to them!

As time progressed, so did the planning on how Cara and Steve were going to get to the same place.  After what seemed like an eternity and two years of long-distance, Steve was offered a job and made the move in February of 2018 to Maryland.  Cara and Steve were ecstatic to finally be able to start their life together.

On Friday, March 23rd, disguised as a “date night”, Steve surprised Cara with his proposal at Gravelly Point, one of Cara’s favorite parks in DC where you can watch the planes take off and land at Reagan National Airport.   Steve picked that special spot because planes and travel had been such a large part of their relationship.  But, the surprises would not end there. Steve organized a wonderful dinner in Adams Morgan, where Cara & Steve had spent their first weekend together.  Steve had also invited Sean, Cara’s brother, and his friends for a post dinner celebration, followed by a flight home to Dayton, OH the next morning to celebrate with Cara’s family and friends.  The weekend was complete with some of Cara’s longest and best friends making the trek back to Dayton to be a part of the celebration!  It was truly the BEST weekend ever, capped off with Steve’s family being in DC the following weekend to continue the celebration! 

We are extremely lucky to be surrounded by amazing family and friends, and we are so excited to start our new chapter as husband and wife!  We look forward to celebrating with all of you on May 26th, 2019!