Our Story
From rubber bands and ice cream to happily ever after.
It all started at O-Hill, the dining hall at the University of Virginia.
At an event organized by our friends Shannon and Evan, Neil happened to be sitting diagonally across from Kate. Kate, apparently intrigued, wanted an excuse to get in touch.
As it happened, she had a screw with worn-down edges, and a rubber band is the old trick for that. A perfect excuse, really. So she found his phone number and texted him asking for a rubber band. Neil, displaying the charm and romantic instincts of a future husband, responded with two words:
“Who’s this?”
An auspicious beginning.
Fortunately, the conversation didn’t end there. Kate kept finding excuses to talk to him, often involving requests for “ice cream.”
What began at a college dining hall gradually grew into something much bigger. We went from spending time together at UVA to moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, where we began building a life together.
Since then, we’ve explored new cities, found our favorite restaurants, and welcomed our very enthusiastic Aussiedoodle, Newton, into the family. Somewhere along the way, we realized the best part was never where we were or what we were doing. It was getting to do it together.
In September 2026, five years into our story, Neil proposed on the Hudson River. Thankfully, his communication skills had improved considerably since the rubber-band incident.
Now, as we prepare for our next chapter together, we’re looking forward to one of our greatest adventures yet: getting married in Tokyo, a city we fell in love with together.
Why Tokyo
Our love for Japan started with 27,000 steps in the pouring rain. Fresh off a long flight, we were jet-lagged, exhausted, and completely soaked. Somehow, all we wanted to do was keep exploring.
There’s something about Japan that we find endlessly fascinating. The extraordinary efficiency, the quiet respect woven into everyday life, the hospitality, and the care people put into even the smallest details. It’s a place where centuries-old traditions and incredible modernity coexist so naturally.
If you know us, you know we’re not always the best at putting our laptops away. Perhaps that’s part of why we admire a culture that takes such pride in its work, where even the smallest details are treated with extraordinary care. But Japan also has a way of making us slow down, put everything else aside, and simply enjoy being there. For Neil, who’s not exactly famous for his patience, that’s a welcome lesson.
One of our favorite memories was being welcomed into a Buddhist temple, taking off our shoes, and enjoying a beautiful meal of tofu-inspired dishes. There was seemingly endless green tea, too, a tradition we’ve happily continued back home. To this day, we rarely pass up a trip to Hashi Market in New York for green tea mochi.
We left Japan already dreaming about returning. And when we started imagining where we’d celebrate our wedding, we couldn’t think of anywhere we’d rather be, or a better reason to bring our favorite people along.