The year is 2004. Both Liz and Mike are separately trudging through the halls of Edison Intermediate School in Westfield, NJ. Liz is still unsure if she should be called "Elizabeth" or "Liz" and often tells teachers to "choose what is easiest to remember!" Mike is slightly more confident and has found fast musician friends.

Sporting a new Old Navy t-shirt and complimentary Old Navy pants that have zippers on them to turn them into capris (!!!,) Liz is trying to branch out, faking confidence per her aunts' instructions given at weekly Friday Family Dinners and desperately attempting to shake off nicknames and flag-football mishaps from her past at McKinley Elementary School. She spots three guys (boys? Young men? What do you even call 7th graders?) walking towards her in deep

conversation***. What should have been a pass by in the hall turned into a pivotal moment.

Liz notices the tallest first, with long, straight blonde hair, and a bold shirt that states: "LISTEN TO BOB MARLEY." This was her moment - fake confidence, and make friends with boys who she didn't start a food fight with in the cafeteria two years prior.

She could have just said hello. Or asked if they were in gym together. Or literally anything except what she did say, which was:

"Uhhhh, who is Bob Marley?"

The three boys stop, register the question, and each give looks of total confusion, surprise, shock, and disgust.

"You don't know who Bob Marley is?" The tallest one replies.

"Um...haha...yeah...of course I do." Liz's tongue gets caught in her recently tightened braces.

The two part ways, not knowing that this would be an interaction haunting at least one of them forever. She would recount the story to her aunts the following week for advice.

Flash forward to high school! Liz and Mike are in overlapping friend groups, but don't share any classes together, because Mike is an advanced science and math classes while Liz is in what can only be descried as remedial math and "normal" science (NOTE** She does make up for it in advanced English, let's not get it twisted.) The two have friendly interactions and Liz even DD's for her friends and Mike's friends to Mike's Infamous Basement Parties in later years of high school. Liz runs cross country, plays softball and does track and field while Mike plays music and is in many different bands playing at Folio shows that Liz attends.

Senior year, Mike accepts Early Decision to The Cooper Union in NYC to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. Liz gets into Delaware and can't wait to be a Blue Hen and finally decides on dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in English & WOMS (Women and Gender Studies, which we believe has since been changed to just Gender Studies.) In the summer before senior year of college, Liz and Mike run into each other at the Jolly Trolley (RIP!) in Westfield and reconnect. Mike asks Liz to go out for coffee sometime and she kind of blows him off, "because it's her senior year, and she doesn't want anything serious." However, she reconsiders, and after their first official date seeing The Hunger Games at the Rialto, the two are in it for the long run.

Flash forward seven years - both Liz and Mike have graduated college and succeeded at a 'long distance' relationship while Liz lived in Jersey City and Mike in Brooklyn. The two moved in together in June of 2017 to a new place in Jersey City.

On October 15, 2020, Liz and Mike took a trip up to Acadia National Park for hiking with friends and to see the Maine coastline in peak leaf-peeping season. While on a walk before dinner at the Bar Harbor Inn, Mike sat Liz down and presented a scrapbook filled with photographs, concert tickets, travel tickets, and other mementos from their trips together over the course of their relationship. Once Liz finished reading, he got down on a knee and proposed. There was lots of ugly crying and some deep breathing that needed to be done by Liz, but the hotel staff brought out some Veuve, and she calmed down. The rest is history!

***The other two boys? Antoine and Sam! (See 'Wedding Party' Section of our site.)

E&M

Wedding Day

5:30 PM

Ceremony

6:30 PM

Reception