Diane and Chris met through a mutual friend on July 4th, 2018. Diane had recently moved to Cape Cod for a job, and Chris was working and living in the Boston area but returned to the cape regularly to spend time with friends and family. Diane had established a group of wonderful friends on Cape Cod and had made a habit of adventuring to new trails and beaches. She had just returned to Massachusetts from a half marathon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and had enrolled in a Master’s program for Occupational Therapy. Chris had just finished his Master’s degree and had returned from an unforgettable trip to Japan where he hiked, swam, and indulged in copious amounts of sushi and ramen. On the beach that day, Chris and Diane chatted about their recent travels. Chris showed his affection by giving Diane a beer and a bandanna. Diane was unenthused by the offering but was secretly hoping Chris would give her his phone number. Unfortunately, Chris failed to muster the courage. The day ended and Diane assumed their paths would not cross again.

Three weeks went by. Then their mutual friend brought Diane to the drive-in theater in Wellfleet with some friends, including Chris, who offered Diane a beach chair, but she was too stubborn and didn't want to appear like a helpless girl. So, she sat on a blanket on the pavement instead, a confusing denial of Chris’s attempted chivalry. Having lost that battle, Chris decided to try to impress her with his knowledge of movies, a subject in which Diane remains interested but not well-versed. She liked that he could talk endlessly about movies with a rambling sort of passion. He seemed more talkative tonight, and she felt certain he would ask for her number. But Chris failed again. The night ended and they parted ways. Chris drove home knowing he had missed a beautiful opportunity, probably his last.

But a month later Diane was at a birthday party and once again she crossed paths with Chris. He kept trying to hang out with her, but she was elusive and spent most of the night with other friends throughout the party. By now she considered Chris a funny guy who was enjoyable to hang around, nothing more. At some point a partygoer asked Diane to play something on the piano in the living room, and after watching her play for two minutes, Chris asked Diane to teach him to play a song. So, Diane picked a basic duet, "Heart and Soul", and Chris quickly picked it up on his first try. Later, when leaving the party, Chris finally revealed his first shred of intelligence and asked for her phone number. Diane was confused because she thought Chris had no interest in her. Luckily for him, she decided she would give this guy a chance, but not without putting him to the test; Diane informed Chris that she was running a race the following weekend and invited Chris to join. This intimidated Chris, who was a good sprinter but struggled with long-distance running and had never considered exposing his weakness in a public race. Later that night, before he had even gotten home, Diane had texted him a link to the race, and Chris quickly learned that she was she was a go-getter, a motivator, and a relentless enthusiast for the outdoors. Unfortunately, Chris was unable to run the race due a to a “prior engagement” (honestly!) but he made up for it by finally asking Diane on a date. And she said yes.

Their first date was at a not-so-romantic barbeque restaurant in Waltham, Massachusetts. Diane and Chris both regretted ordering messy handheld burgers which coated their fingers in sauce and air-mailed toppings down to their plates, but at this point they were committed to finishing the meal. They embraced the saucy disarray and laughed together at their poor food choice, trying desperately not to wear the meal. In the middle of demonstrating their acrobatic dining skills, Chris asked Diane what she thought an ideal relationship looked like. She responded by saying a healthy relationship is like a pizza; we all come with unique toppings and sauce, and meeting the right life partner means our toppings must combine to create a masterpiece of a pizza, a process that might demand a compromise of, say, more peppers and fewer onions or vice versa, but which should never result in either partner losing their toppings entirely. Chris was impressed by this colorful culinary metaphor for compromise. It would not be the last time Chris and Diane would use food to explain their feelings or demonstrate romantic insights.

Soon they were inseparable. Diane moved into Chris’s tiny apartment, bringing a mountain of clothes, an electric piano, and a brand new (and much needed) set of towels. They began cooking, running, hiking, and playing music together. They took regular road trips throughout New England and beyond, including to Nova Scotia, where they learned about drive-through beer windows and an inconvenient one-hour time zone differential.

Chris and Diane have so many common interests, but it is their differences that make them a great team. Where Chris goes with the flow to the point of procrastination, Diane makes things happen (a very useful trait for wedding planning!). Where Diane might get held up by the little things, Chris reminds her to keep the big picture in mind. When Chris is in a rush (he has an unhealthy obsession with punctuality), Diane reminds him that tardiness is part of life. Chris loves long days sitting on the beach while Diane likes to be on the move in the mountains. The list goes on. These are their respective pizza toppings, so to speak. And because they agreed, on their very first date, on the importance of the individual passions, inclinations, and hobbies that make them who they are, they never find themselves needing to sacrifice their toppings. The result is one big beautiful pizza of a relationship.

They are both blessed and thrilled to have you in their lives. They are looking forward to having you in attendance for the most important day of their lives!