It might sound a little cliché, but this story begins in a bar—though not just any bar. Alexa and Sean met on a balmy August night out in Oakland at an uptown establishment called Cafe Van Kleef, known affectionately by locals for its greyhounds made with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. It was over a round of these refreshing drinks that our lovers were first introduced by a mutual friend—more on her later.

From that momentous encounter, Alexa and Sean went their separate ways, though not for long. You see, Alexa was throwing a party at her house the next day: a going-away party for her brother, who was leaving to study abroad for a semester. Like a dutiful big sister, she bought a keg for him and all his lacrosse buddies. What she didn’t know was that most of them were out of town. The mutual friend had a solution: “I’ll text Sean. Sean can drink beer.”

Sean came to the party. As promised, he drank beer—though in full transparency, they would hardly make a dent in that keg. Our young friends laughed, played games, and danced. It was during one of the dancing interludes that Sean took particular notice of Alexa. Later in the night, he asked for Alexa’s number and told her he’d like to make her dinner—their mutual friend rolled her eyes. It would be sometime before he had that pleasure, but Sean left the party lovestruck nonetheless.

Days passed—Sean didn’t want to seem thirsty. Alexa thought Sean was nice, but she was still riding high off of what she and her friends termed their “single summer.” One day, Sean called her out of the blue. Alexa was taken aback—pleasantly so (don’t people just text these days?). She accepted his invitation to hang out—with their mutual friend present.

This friendly hang gave way to dates. Alexa started to realize Sean was actually kind of interesting, (sometimes) funny, and smart. He also texted back promptly and was a good communicator, which was a breath of fresh air. Sean was enamored with Alexa’s beauty, carefree attitude, and discerning intelligence. They realized they were both passionate about music. Late-night conversation revealed a lot of overlap on fundamental worldview stuff.

Dates soon gave way to road trips, and our lovers brought each other home to their families (to this day, every time the couple leaves town on vacation, they make a playlist themed after their destination). They each noticed that the other placed a lot of importance on family, and they liked that. It was around this time that Sean confessed to their mutual friend at work one morning; Alexa was the one.

The couple continued to grow and took increasingly bigger steps together. They moved into an apartment and discovered a shared interest and style for interior decorating. Alexa and Sean got a dog (who is really more like their child). Now things were getting serious.

In June 2022, Sean took Alexa away for a spa weekend at the nearby Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. There, on their private terrace above the tower suite, he got down on one knee and asked Alexa to marry him (she said yes). From that spot, they looked out at the Bay Area where they first met, where they fell in love, and where they’d created so many memories over the past five years together.

Then the couple set a date: Friday, August 18, 2023. Exactly six years from the day they met—which was also a Friday. Remember their mutual friend? Their matchmaker Stacey will be there to finish what she started (read: officiate).

Sean and Alexa can’t wait to celebrate with all their favorite people and dance the night away. They hope to see you there!

A&S

The Wedding