It was March 3rd, 2016. Erin and Izzy (Matron of Honor) were hosting Izzy's 22nd birthday party at their off-campus house in Tivoli, NY — a beautiful, tiny upstate town directly outside of Bard College.

As a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, Izzy was keeping up her tradition of watching the entire trilogy on her birthday. But this was also a college party, so they decided to have two "party rooms": one for watching Lord of the Rings and the other for beer pong.

Curious to see if anyone had chosen to forego beer pong for Frodo and Sam, Erin wandered into the movie room. To her surprise, she found a guy sitting on her couch, beer in hand, wearing one of their pink paper cone party hats on his head. She and Izzy had bought those as a joke, and she liked that he actually put one on. She recognized him — not from around the Bard Annandale campus but from the Bard Berlin campus, where she spent a semester abroad last year. She walked over, sat down next to him, and said, "Hey, weren't you in Berlin?"

At first, Zall didn't recognize Erin from Berlin. But he did recognize her from the night before — at Wine and Cheese Wednesdays, a weekly gathering hosted at another Bard student's home in Tivoli.

That previous night, Zall and his friend Elias (Best Man) had sipped wine around an impressive charcuterie spread when, across the room, a girl (Erin) leaned against the wall with a glass of wine in her hand. She looked like she was waiting for someone. "Do you know what that girl's name is? The cute one with Doc Martin boots and the red lipstick," Zall asked Elias. Elias shook his head, and they left the party shortly after.

Now, less than 24 hours later, here he was — sitting on her couch next to her as they exchanged stories about their wild times in Berlin.

Erin and Zall fell in love in the spring of 2016 at Bard College. At the end of the semester, Erin graduated. She had plans to move to Thailand for a year to teach English; Zall had two more years of college to go. They spent the summer together in Tivoli with no plans to stay together and no desire to be apart.

One year later, Zall found himself on a MetroNorth train heading to New York Grand Central Station. When he got off the subway at 7th Avenue and 9th Street, there was Erin. It was as if no time had passed at all.

Gift fund

We deeply appreciate your generosity and prefer monetary contributions to help us save for our honeymoon and start our married life together! If you'd like to give a physical gift instead, feel free to reach out to us directly for ideas!