Justin & Claire’s story begins at Wind River Ranch, a Christian family guest ranch, in Estes Park, CO. During their college years, they both spent summers working at, "the Ranch". However, they were never on staff at the same time and did not actually meet for another decade.

That is a pretty crazy fact considering the tight-knit friendships formed at the Ranch & the number of mutual friends they shared.

Casey and Molly DePaolo happen to be some of those mutual friends. Wind River is also a big a part of their story as it is where they met each other and got married. During their time there, they also both worked with and became friends with Justin and Claire. Long after everyone’s time at Wind River concluded, the friendships remained.

As it turns out, Casey and Molly, more specifically Molly, had been scheming for the better part of that decade about how to orchestrate a way for Justin and Claire to meet. Every time she would try and facilitate that, life happened and it never came to fruition. Justin was living in Georgetown working for the Austin Fire Department. Casey & Molly had landed in Ardmore to train horses & raise their family. Claire had settled back home in Oklahoma working at her church and on the family ranch. In each of their places, life was full and busy.

In January of 2024, Justin and Claire each separately contacted Casey and Molly to schedule visits to catch up and meet the newest member of the DePaolo family. Unknowingly, they inquired about the exact same weekend. Much to Molly’s delight, everything finally came together and Justin and Claire both agreed to come that weekend.

On February 2, 2024, Justin and Claire both arrived to Ardmore. The whole weekend felt relaxed, fun and life-giving, something akin to visiting a longtime friend whom you haven’t seen in a while.

Shortly after the weekend came to a close, they began dating long distance. After ten months of marathon phone dates and twelve hour drives for weekend visits, they were engaged to be married on December 13, 2024.

It is a story that was a decade in the making and a beautiful testament to trusting the Lord’s perfect timing.