Gates Mills Community House

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception

Our Wedding

The beginning:Luke and Gina met on the dating app, Hinge in fall 2023. Shortly after, Luke asked Gina to go on a date with him to a restaurant called Soju (fun fact-- Luke ended up working at Soju many months later!!!). Luke was so nervous for a first date that Gina drafted a list of topics for them to discuss so Luke could feel confident in the date going well. (Gina has never done this for a man before but it really did work.) October 26, 2023:Did you know that Gina's voice projects a lot more than Luke's? While Soju was delicious, it was so busy and loud that Gina couldn't really hear Luke the majority of the time. However, his general kind demeanor and clear passion for nerdy games and books immediately won her over. While walking Gina to her car, Luke invited Gina to hang out with his friends and play board games sometime. As of October 26 2024, this date still has not occurred. December 4, 2023:Luke went to a Strong Man competition in West Virginia in early December. He never worked up the nerve to ask Gina if she would want to come. Gina sat on her couch in her residence hall apartment anxiously looking at updates for the competition on Instagram, and considered spending $150 just to watch the livestream online.As Luke drove home from the competition in which he placed 20TH IN THE WORLD!!!!, Gina asked him to call her to discuss something making her anxious. Luke immediately called Gina, and she expressed how much she likes Luke and wanted to be at the competition. Luke promptly cut Gina off and asked her if she would like to be his girlfriend. She said yes. January 28, 2024:Luke and Gina went on a cabin trip to Hocking Hills in late January with Gina's work friends (shout out to Bea and Viktoria, love you both!!!).The trip was wonderful. The morning of the checkout date from the cabin, Gina and Luke finished packing up their car. Gina's dog, Minnie, decided to run into the lawn and into some tall grass. Gina stepped into the yard and asked Minnie to come to the car. Gina turned back around and swiftly fell down an incline in a mud patch. She dislocated and broke her arm.Luke drove Gina and Minnie to the nearby Urgent Care, where they did not have the resources to reset her arm. Gina asked to be given any strong pain killer and to wrap her arm tightly. Luke then drove Gina back to Pittsburgh and told her how scared he was and how much he loves her (it wasn't his first time saying this, but it was very sweet.)At the Pittsburgh hospital while waiting for an X Ray, Luke accidentally called Gina his wife. Gina smiled and her heart warmed, but did not point out the slip up until she was out of the hospital several days later. Luke has not stopped calling Gina his wife since that day. The move -in:By the middle of February, Gina had asked Luke if he would want to move in with her in July. He said yes, and promptly began spending at least five days a week in her apartment the following week. He was essentially living there within a month. The house and proposal:By May, the couple began thinking about what life would look like in a year. Would Gina be looking at a job outside of a Resident Director? Do they want to look at apartments together? A house?Oh yes. A house. Gina had been planning to buy a house in Summer 2024 before even meeting Luke. As they had been discussing marriage for multiple months at this point, they had determined that they were serious about this endeavor and life together. They looked at houses for many months, and finally had their offer on their dream house accepted in mid-September, 2024. On September 23, Luke and Gina took a trip to Niagara on the Lake in Canada. Gina had been casually dropping hints about a proposal all summer. "So are you going to propose now?" she would say at least once a week any time that anything was even slightly romantic. So when this trip was planned, Gina had an inkling that a proposal might be happening at some point while in Canada.When they arrived at their AirBnb, the couple spent 45 minutes unpacking and orienting themselves. They decided to go outside to see the vineyard property behind the house. As Minnie happily chomped down on some grass, Luke called out for Gina. Gina turned around as Luke pulled a beautiful gold and sapphire ring out of his pocket. They both cried as Luke asked Gina if she would be his best friend for life. It was the easiest yes of her life.

How We Fell In Love

Our Story

Photos

Janet is Gina's mom and Gina is so grateful to call Janet one of her best friends. 
When asked to be her Matron of Honor, Janet responded by saying, "No!!!" Gina asked, "Why not?!" to which Janet responded, "Because you already asked Logan!!!"

There's a lot of irony in both Matrons of Honor first answering this question by saying no. This is exactly how Gina would respond to this question, too.

Janet Mulh

Logan is Gina's cousin and one of her closest friends. Logan and Gina became close when Gina would ditch her Algebra class at the community college to take Logan to Panera for lunch.

When Gina called Logan to ask her to be her Matron of Honor, Logan answered, "No! [Long pause] That's a joke, of course I want to be your Matron of Honor." 

What's with both matrons of honor starting off by saying no?! They don't have a choice, they're both Matrons of Honor in the wedding and in life.

Logan Katoch

Emily has been Gina's best friend for seemingly forever. They have known each other for 13+ years. Gina sees Emily not only as a friend, but as a sister too. 

When Gina Facetimed Emily to show her the ring after being proposed to, one of Emily's first follow up questions was, "So I'm the Maid of Honor, right??" Yes girl, without question.

Emily Croyle

Megan is Gina's cousin and longest-running friendship ever. Meg and Gina grew up bonding over many things, including Scottish dancing, theatre, and orchestra. When Gina asked Meg to be a bridesmaid, her initial answer was, "... really?? Are you sure??" This is an obvious yes. Megan is beautiful and one of Gina's role models.

Megan Katoch-Monreal

Gina met Chloe on Luke's birthday in 2023. Chloe and Gina quickly bonded over the arts, musicals, and family. Gina greatly admires Chloe's strength, intelligence, empathy, and care for others. In the year of knowing Chloe, Gina has loved watching Chloe finish her degree at Carnegie Mellon, develop goals for medical school, and showing such a great level of autonomy as a young woman. It's an honor to soon call Chloe her sister-in-law.

Chloe Sinagra

Luke met Vaughn in the summer of 2019, not too long after he became interested in Strongman.  Luke had joined Vaughn’s gym at the time because he was kind enough to lend his personal equipment to members as well as allowing them to utilize his world-level experience. He has spent years helping them all to develop as athletes. As Luke started to work with him, Vaughn quickly became a mentor and great friend to him and helped him reach the biggest goals he had set for himself. He has supported Luke with all his endeavors, both shared and individual, and has been a well of support and encouragement. They have also opened a gym in order to perpetuate that type of community and relationship and to teach the next generation those same skills.

Vaughn Sikorski

Luke met Josh in the fall of 2021. Introduced by a mutual friend, they found they had a shared love of comics, lifting, mead, and community service. After helping each other out on several projects, they became good friends. He has always shown great compassion and service to everyone he has ever encountered, and has always focused on leaving the world and his community better every day.

Josh Karl

Luke met Tanner in the spring of 2022.  They met and bonded over a game of Settlers of Catan and found they had shared love of games, food, coffee, and beer. Like everyone on this list, he would give his life or limb for anyone if they needed it and need nothing in return. 

Tanner Rice

Kevin is Gina's loving big brother. Gina frequently loves to brag to others that she and Kevin have never really fought at all. He's one of her biggest role models, and both Luke and Gina know that he's always there if they need anything at all. Kevin is a devoted husband to his wife Whitney, an amazing father to his daughter (just born in December 2024!!!), and one of the smartest, kindest, and funniest people Gina and Luke know.

Kevin Mulh

Wedding Party

Q + A

Travel

Things to Do

Registry

Luke or Gina will reach out to you individually if you should arrive early for wedding party photos. Otherwise, all guests should plan to arrive between 4-4:30PM.

Gina & Luke

Gina & Luke

Photos