Rehearsal Dinner

The Big Day!

St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill

Ceremony

District Winery

Reception

Spring

Our Wedding

The Bride's Story In 2015, I watched a Nicolas Sparks’ movie called “The Longest Ride”. It tells of this great love story between two couples and it ends with the younger couple owning an art gallery. It showcased this incredible, deep love - one that I longed for and hoped for one day. A few years later when I went to make my first dating app profile, I listed on one of my prompts that I “wanted to own an art gallery” - purely inspired by this movie. For the next 8 years I would be on-and-off dating apps, but I never changed this one prompt despite no one commenting on it. Until April 15, 2023. A young gentleman named Noah replied “I want to own an art gallery, too”. This piqued my interest because someone finally wanted to own an art gallery with me! We went on our first date April 22, 2023. Exactly 23 months ago to the date of our wedding. I’m going to come back to the art gallery, but first… Interlude. I moved to D.C. in May of 2022 with my graduate program. A small cohort of us had started our masters in Austin at the University of Texas in a program that would move us to Washington D.C. to finish our last two semesters. All of us decided to live in D.C. proper except one friend who opted to live out in Arlington. Over the course of the next six months this friend would invite me over to her apartment and she would always tell me “My apartment has a great dog park. I feel like you should come to my dog park with me. There’s some great men there! I think you could meet someone!” I always laughed when she said that thinking “Who am I going to meet at a random dog park in Arlington”. Well …&nbsp; Our first date was a bit of a dance, in fact, I canceled on Noah 45 minutes before we were supposed to meet because I forgot I was going to the theater with a friend for a matinee performance. I thought we were going to an evening performance. I never mix things up and luckily Noah agreed to meet me that evening. Tail between my legs I showed up flustered and apologizing over and over again. I was expecting to see the type of guy I had grown accustomed to dating in D.C., but here across from me was this completely handsome man, with the biggest, brightest, bluest eyes. He looked at me all night genuinely interested in what I had to say and actively engaged in the conversation. I was struck at how immediately comfortable I felt in his presence. During our conversation I asked where he lived and he replied, “Oh I live in Arlington”. I ask where. He says the name of the same apartment complex as my friend. I asked if he knew my friend and he replied nonchalantly “Oh yeah, I know her from the dog park!” So it turns out she was right. There was my person at the dog park.&nbsp; Three weeks into dating my parents were in town for a small, private dinner at the Kazakhstan Embassy and a black-tie affair at the Opera. I unexpectedly got invited and got a plus one. I went out on a limb and invited Noah. He very excitedly told me "Yes!" Next thing I know, Noah and I are coordinating our outfits and planning to have him meet my parents. (See our very first photo from that night below!) I got caught in traffic so Noah beat me to the hotel where we were meeting first. I made the mistake of telling my parents Noah was in a maroon jacket. I arrived 20 minutes late to see all three of them chatting in the lobby of the Willard Hotel. Without skipping a beat my dad turns to me and says, “I found him with my CIA tracker”. Instant regrets floods my body as I think, “Welp - this is a make or break it moment.” Noah laughs and as we ride to the Embassy my dad invites Noah to the Houston Rodeo. The Houston Rodeo. That happens in March. 10 months away. It is May. I knew he was a good man when my dad was extending a social invite to a date of mine he just met - a rare occurrence. We walk into the embassy and sit down for dinner. The menus read “Welcome to Kazakhstan.” Noah leans over “Kazakhstan? I thought we were going to Saudi Arabia”. Before I could explain that I might have told him the wrong embassy, we were interrupted by a waiter putting food in front of us. I had told the group beforehand that Noah was vegan. As the food came I realized that in fact this had not been translated to the embassy and they were indeed serving us beef noodles. I look in terror at Noah knowing that we’re in a predicament because he can’t not eat the food because it would be rude to the Ambassador but also knowing he doesn’t eat meat. Noah looks at me and whispers “it’s okay” and precedes to eat meat for the first time in 2 years. The Ambassador kicks off the dinner asking everyone to go around and say what they like most about the arts. They get to Noah and he goes on about how he played orchestra in high school and how much he appreciated the arts. I look at him stunned. I thought he was a jock turned college cheerleader but he also plays an instrument? I was feeling pretty smitten with my date at that moment. Dinner concludes and the Ambassador announces they have a pop quiz for us on Kazakhstan. First - he has to meet my parents, dress up, eat meat, talk about the arts and now he has to take a quiz in front of an Ambassador of a country he wasn’t expecting. At the end, we have to read out how many each of us got right. The Ambassadors stands ready with a gift for the highest winner. We go about the room and people call out “12”, “8”, “10”.&nbsp;We get to Noah. In a firm, confident voice he sas “2.” The Ambassador stops “2? Hold on, I'll be back”. Noah looks at me and goes “Oh no.” Before Noah can explain what he is thinking, the Ambassador has returned “With a gift for our lowest winner.” And hands Noah a book on Kazakhstan. Talk about a proper parental D.C. hazing. That night I knew Noah was different and I knew he was someone I wanted to be around. We attended the black-tie Opera that next night at the Kennedy Center where we held hands through the entire performance. The night concluded with drinks and dancing, and yes, even the Ambassador and his wife yelling across the room "Noah!" as they rushed to say hi to us. I was so dazzled at how Noah handled the whole weekend and I left knowing I always wanted him by my side. A year into our dating we sat down to watch a movie and Noah suggested this movie called “The Longest Ride”. As we started to watch it, I realized this was the movie that had made me put that line on my profile all those years ago about wanting to own an art gallery. I excitedly tell this to Noah. He stares back at me blankly so I start to repeat the story again and he interrupts, “No way - this was the movie that made me want to own an art gallery and why I commented that on your profile”.&nbsp; Once again, here was God working his way back in 2015. And back when I chose my graduate program. And back when we found each other on a random app. Our love has always been intertwined in an invisible string. The Groom's Story Cynthia and I met in a manner that will probably become the standard moving forward for most couples post-COVID: dating apps. I immediately knew something was special about this girl the moment I saw the hot air balloon festival in her first picture, accompanied by her desire to visit art galleries and travel to all seven continents. So, I did what any young, studied, and well-traveled architecture major would do—I took a shot at starting a conversation with this dream girl. I invited her out for a drink after realizing what I thought was my fourth continent visited was actually still my third - because Costa Rica is part of North America, in case anyone else was confused like me. She accepted, but not without playing hard to get, saying she had a “musical” with a so-called friend that afternoon and had to reschedule for the evening. Once the conversation started, I knew my assumptions were correct: she was a one-in-a-million brilliant Texas girl who doesn’t take no for an answer. I sealed the deal with an exclusive rooftop view of DC from my construction project that happened to be close to the bar off Pennsylvania Avenue. A few quick weeks later, Cynthia invited me to a Nationals baseball game with her company seats. While there, she told me that her parents were going to be in town for a black-tie event and wanted to know if I would go as her plus-one. I eagerly said yes, as the nicest I had gotten to dress after starting work in construction management was for the holiday Christmas party. After she told me how the event went last year at the Saudi Embassy, I studied up on facts about the country to try and impress her and her parents. I ended up beating her to meet her parents at the hotel and immediately knew I started off on the wrong foot by referring to Cynthia as Cindy to her parents. Long story short, her dating profile was Cindy to protect her identity; she never decided to correct me or tell me not to call her that. I later learned at Thanksgiving that year that the one rule Cathy had about naming Cynthia was that they wouldn’t call her Cindy. Cathy and Bruce nonetheless greeted me with the Texas charm I have grown to love so much and dismissed my mistake. We all then got in the car to travel to the embassy, and when I got out, I thought we were in the wrong place. It was the Kazakhstan embassy, which is a country I couldn’t even exactly pinpoint on a map other than somewhere near Russia, let alone have one fun fact about. We got to dinner, and I was served a large bowl of beef noodles after Cynthia had already sent in my dietary accommodations that I don’t eat red meat after being vegan for almost two years. I looked at her and ate the beef noodles with a smile so as not to draw attention to myself. I have her to this day to thank for reintroducing me to my favorite food again. The dinner went on, and my seven years of playing in the orchestra paid off when the ambassador asked what got me into appreciating the opera. I was then in the mindset that I had passed all the tests that night and could relax a little, until the waiter brought everyone a multiple-choice test on—you guessed it—not Saudi Arabia. I finished the test and thought we were just going to share the correct answers and learn about the country. Wrong. We then went around the room and shared the number of correct answers. It started off with 6, 7, then a couple of 5s and a 4. Then it got to me, the last person in the room, and I said…3. Mind you, those 3 correct answers were complete sheer luck as I couldn’t pronounce half of the cities and rivers listed on the test. The ambassador then brought out gifts for the first and second place and called to bring a surprise third gift from the back. For getting the least amount right, I got a book on Kazakhstan to educate myself more for next time.On the way home that night, after embarrassing myself enough, Bruce told me about the Houston Rodeo and that the only boots to get are Lucchese and the only cowboy hat to get is a Stetson. I quickly realized then and there my love for Texas and that these were definitely people I could call family. Not long after this event, I officially asked Cynthia to date me after being called Cynthia’s friend constantly at the embassy. She then ran her last background check to make it official when I had to give my social security number again (two times in three months) to go bowling at the White House with her roommate and cohort. A year later, I was accepted into my MBA program at UCLA Anderson and found myself on one knee in a hot air balloon on the Fourth of July, asking her to marry me before I moved across the country.

Our Story

Photos

Anne Marie Niemeyer-Latiolais

Sean Tieskoetter

Jacob Tieskoetter

Wedding Party

Q + A

Classic Room (King)- &nbsp;$369 per night + taxes/fees (currently 15.95%, subject to change + $30 per additional person per night - excluding children 17 and under) Check-in 3PM / Check out 12 Noon. <a href="https://washington.intercontinental.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://washington.intercontinental.com/</a>&nbsp;or call 888-424-6835Group code = “NTB” Rates valid thru 02/19/2025.Cancellations must be made 48 hours prior to arrival date to avoid a no-show charge. &nbsp;

InterContinental the Willard Washington D.C., an IHG Hotel

King -&nbsp;$299&nbsp;per Night + taxes/fees (including $25 destination fee per night)&nbsp; 2 Doubles&nbsp;-&nbsp;$329&nbsp;per night + taxes/fees&nbsp;(including $25 destination fee per night)&nbsp; $25 Destination fee per night per room includes:$30 Food / Beverage Credit daily on property$5 Uber Rideshare credit daily2 Tickets to use on Old Town Trolley-Monuments by Moonlight Tour per stayDaily Enhanced high-speed internet <span style="font-size: var(--tkww-union-typography-scale-300-font-size,1rem); color: var(--tkww-union-color-text-default,var(--tkww-union-color-neutral-black,#000)); font-family: inherit; font-weight: var(--tkww-union-typography-regular-font-weight,400);">Check-in 4PM / Check-out 12 Noon. Luggage Storage is available at the bell stand in main lobby, if needed. Reservation link:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://book.passkey.com/e/50897058" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://book.passkey.com/e/50897058</a>&nbsp; Rates valid through 02/21/2025.

JW Marriott Washington, DC

Travel

Things to Do

Registry

Cynthia & Noah

Cynthia & Noah

C&N

The Big Day!

3:30 PM

Ceremony

5:00 PM

Reception