Chapter I - Alice Follows the White Rabbit Down Into Wonderland

Note: We know that our follow up on this has been extremely delayed! Somehow life just keeps on being busy, even though we do our best to stay ahead of the fray.

A long, long time ago (four years) on a coast far, far away (Pacific Northwest), we met while Lara was on assignment as a traveling nurse in Seattle. We started out with the expectation that we would be just spending some time together until the end of Lara’s contract. However, as the spark of our connection continued to grow, letting go became more and more difficult. There were periods of separation and heartache, but something kept pulling us back together. We put a lot of work into keeping our relationship alive (and resuscitating it), but we emerged from our periods of struggle and darkness with a bond that was stronger than ever.

In February of 2020, after being reunited and forging ahead with a new sense of purpose and commitment in our relationship, Leo proposed to Lara while on a romantic trip to Boston. With tears in our eyes and gratitude that we were given this new opportunity, Lara accepted, and we began this adventure together with renewed hope and ideas for our future.

Our adventures in India, Boston, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Seattle

We went to work right away planning the perfect wedding. The theme was going to be Alice in Wonderland – our relationship survived a lot of surreal twist and turns, and we emerged with a re-imagined sense of ourselves and our relationship. We dreamed of an idyllic brunch wedding at the gorgeous Phipp’s Conservatory in Pittsburgh, surround by family and friends. We secured the venue, started to assemble our guest list, and grew more and more excited.

Our dream wedding venue: Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA

Enter the supervillain of 2020: COVID-19. For a while we watched and waited, but as the magnitude of the pandemic and its expansive havoc showed no signs of resolving quickly, we made the difficult decision to cancel our wedding. We did not want to move ahead and be unsure if it would be safe to gather our family and friends. We were not willing to put the health and the lives of those we loved at stake. We also did not want to wait indefinitely to say our vows. We decided to plan an elopement – with just the two of us – and we are so pleased to be able to share that with you now.

continue to part II ...