This is the first picture of the two of us, but we actually met about two months earlier: Alexa was running auditions for the a cappella group she was in at Northwestern, and Josh rolled up to his audition on his Razor scooter (yes, literally). Josh ended up joining the same a cappella group. A few months later, we were "on tour" with the a cappella group in Santa Monica, California, and this photo was taken when we got to sing a gig at a kinda bougie house party. On the last night of the trip, we sat and talked all night in the rental's laundry room.

We never stopped talking after the Santa Monica trip. A few months later, Josh's fateful text to Alexa kicked off the Relationship with a violent cringe! The rest was history!

We sat on this absolute unit of a chair when Alexa visited Josh's family in Ypsilanti, Michigan for the first time! {Fun Fact: Alexa has a really old home video of her practicing lines with her mom for a summer theatre camp audition, and in the video, the scene she reads mentions Ypsilanti!}

In the early days, we loved staying up and splitting a bottle of Love Drunk, our favorite rosé. Cheesy, we know. {Fun Fact: Alexa repurposed an empty Love Drunk bottle to craft a one-year anniversary gift for Josh!}

We celebrated our one-year anniversary at Prairie Moon, one of our favorite restaurants in Evanston (where Northwestern is). They're now at 1635 Chicago Ave., but this was taken at their original location on Sherman Ave.

Life at Northwestern was marked by weekly Wsports Wednesday dates and LOTS of theatre - Josh continued performing on stage, and Alexa started stage managing and producing. We were so delighted to see a rainbow right after Josh finished his weekend of performances in Macbeth!

This year for Halloween, Josh wore his hamburger onesie and Alexa dressed up as a burglar – together becoming the Hamburglar! {Fun Fact: Josh misplaced the onesie a few years later, and Alexa is still semi-unironically upset about it {because it was an official McDonald's onesie that she won!!!!}}

This was taken at Target around 5am on Black Friday after our second Thanksgiving together. Neither of us are big Black Friday shoppers, but we wanted to do it once for fun. Alexa HAD to get a commemorative picture with the Target dog, but she bonked her head on its ear as she leaned in. This photo captures her moment of anguish.

Josh had such a blast visiting Alexa's home in the East Bay for the first time! We saw the Golden Gate bridge, caught a movie (Coco) at the historic Alameda Theatre, and built a little sand civilization on the beach in Half Moon Bay. The trip also included an introduction to Prince Oreo, Alexa's mom's bunny at the time – thus planting the seeds for Josh to become a bun-lover himself. {Fun Fact: Alexa's hoodie refers to her high school's mascot, the Pilots, and Josh's hoodie refers to the Vietnamese-inspired kitchen where he worked during college!}

We were somehow lucky enough to go to Hawaii right after our trip to California. Josh couldn't get enough of the flavored ice (what's new?). Also pictured is Best Man and third musketeer Matthew!

Alexa's graduation from Northwestern! {Fun Fact: check out the photo from next year's graduation, our outfits MATCHED across the years}

Lolla 2018, i.e., Josh's first live music event since he saw 2 Chainz in high school (yes, really)! We saw Arctic Monkeys, Bruno Mars, WALK THE MOON, and CHVRCHES. {Fun Fact: during this time Alexa worked downtown in the Aon Center, which overlooks Grant Park and Lollapalooza!}

Josh's graduation from Northwestern! {Fun Fact: check out the photo from last year's graduation, our outfits MATCHED across the years}

Life in Chicago? Bean great! This photo was taken at Chicago's iconic downtown sculpture Cloud Gate, aka The Bean! After graduating, we moved from Evanston to Wrightwood + Clark in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood (where many Big 10 graduates tend to flock) and soaked up the last months of pre-Pandemic social reality. The apartment was TINY for two people at 700-something square feet, but we adored it. We affectionately called it our penthouse, as it sat on the top floor of our building and had a beautiful view of the western suburbs and sunsets.

Where were you before the world shut down in 2020? We were on the east coast (Boston, in this picture) touring law schools. {Fun Fact: we went to Chili's the night we got back for what would be our last meal out for a while. It was Chili's's 45th birthday, so now we have a set of four plastic cups inscribed "Chili's 45. March 13, 2020."}

In the summer of 2020, Josh made the decision to attend the University of Michigan's Law School and Alexa made the decision to move with him to Ann Arbor - some of the best decisions we've ever made! Pictured is Josh's first day of law school, which was certainly unconventional. {Fun Fact: he got cold-called his FIRST DAY and had to talk about whether smoke counts as "particulate matter" for purposes of battery. For the record, it does.}

Our first Christmas together – and Alexa's first White Christmas! In fact, we got a few White Christmases during our time in Ann Arbor. This one inspired an impromptu photo shoot during which we snuck onto the local golf course and left our bootprints in the fresh snow!

After Josh finished his first year of law school, we set out for a much-needed getaway to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and beautiful Tahquamenon Falls! Turns out the Midwest isn't TOTALLY flat. We played disc golf in the hills by the Mackinac Bridge, stayed in a cabin on an old industrial beach, and were hosted by a man who introduced himself as "José Cuervo."

One of the best parts of Josh going to Michigan Law was getting season tickets to Michigan Football and Basketball games! We got to be in the stands for some of the greatest years in Michigan Football history, and it started on this day with a game against Western Michigan. Later this fall, Alexa left her corporate PR job to work at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance Office of Admissions – another one of the best decisions she's ever made!

We got engaged in Montague, a sleepy little west Michigan laketown. Josh hoped to propose as the sun set over Lake Michigan (Alexa loves sunsets), but it was so cloudy that there was no sunset and the wind was so strong that sand was whipping in our faces. It was perfect. The ring was jointly designed by us months earlier at local Ann Arbor jeweler Abracadabra. After looking at rings of all shapes and sizes, nothing stood out; but our amazing sales associate, Vittoria, said she had something in the back that she thought Alexa would love. The Montana sapphire that she proceeded to show Alexa wasn't even set in a ring, but it was immediately clear it was the one. Chills!

Shortly after we got engaged, our families convened in Ann Arbor to watch the 2022 Ohio State Game (and celebrate Thanksgiving/the engagement, incidentally). It was Alexa's family's first time in Michigan. Michigan Football triumphed 45-23 (you may remember "he's got a man WIIIDEE Open!!" or "Donovan Edwards... WOAH! Can they catch him, no! 85 yards!"). They'd beaten Ohio State 42-27 in the previous Game and would win the next Game 30-24. When we get married, Michigan Football will be the reigning National Champions.

Josh graduated from law school! His two legacies at Michigan are 1) overzealously promoting The Headnotes, the school's premier (and only) a cappella group and 2) operating Josh's DTW Express.

We then packed up and got ready to move back to the greatest city in the world, Chicago! {Fun Fact: Alexa's dad, Ralph, was an absolute superstar helping with this move and we are eternally grateful to him.}

After Josh sat for the Bar Exam, we visited Philly for the first time! We saw our favorite artist, Maggie Rogers, in concert, and it was absolutely unreal: there was a rainbow before the show (you can kinda see in the photo), and she caught us off-guard by opening with our favorite song, "Anywhere With You." Lots of tears all around.

Our life would not be complete without TACOS. Since moving back to Chicago, we're grateful to still live within walking distance to our favorite taqueria, Angela's Burrito Style. Check it out on the Things to Do Page. {Fun Fact: Josh first discovered Angela's when we lived at Wrightwood + Clark, and it took Alexa forever to finally trust his recommendation and eat there. It's legit.}

Josh officially became the lawyer in the family. {Fun Fact: to maximize trauma, the State of Illinois made Josh say his lawyer oath in the same room where he took the Bar Exam months earlier!}

Today, we're loving life back in Chicago - this was taken at ZooLights, right by where we're getting married! We're now at Belmont + Sheridan in the Lakeview neighborhood.

Oh, and here's us paying our respects to the iconic Chicago Rat Hole.

One of our favorites from our lovely engagement photo shoot! Can you believe the big day is just a few months away?!?!