We believe adventures are better together. That's why many of the people in our story will also be featured in our wedding. We hope that you'll get to know a little about them here and then join-in the story for yourselves on the big day!

—

Part 1: Friendsgiving, November 2016

Believe it or not, Julie and Ben were set-up by one of their closest friends, Priscilla. Uncannily, despite the fact that they both went to NC State University and were both good friends with Priscilla, they hadn't met each other before. At the time, Ben had graduated and was working at a branding agency in North Raleigh, and Julie had just returned from an internship in Sweden and was about to start her Master's Degree. At a Friendsgiving Party (a mini-Thanksgiving you have with friends sometime around Thanksgiving), Priscilla strategically positioned Julie near a completely oblivious Ben and waited for magic to happen. As you might have guessed, things went quite well and Julie and Ben chatted amiably throughout the night about travel, work, and the upcoming holidays.

—

Part 2: To Question or Not to Question, That is The Question

A few weeks went by, and with her friend Chloe's encouragement, Julie sent Ben a message asking if he had any tips for a friend of hers traveling to Vienna. Ben, happy to hear back from Julie and glad to help, sent over every tip he could squeeze out of his brain as to what you could do in the city — but, much to Julie's chagrin, he neglected to ask any follow-up questions. To Ben's credit, the tips were quite extensive (multiple paragraphs). He did mention that he was happy to help at any time with anything else Julie might need, and he was sadly unaware of this critically important requirement that he continue the conversation by asking said follow-up questions.

Julie and Ben celebrated the holidays with their families without hearing anything from one another until, after much prompting from her mother and her friends Rachel and CJ (to whom Ben is eternally grateful), Julie asked Ben whether he might like to go to an Astronomy Day at the Natural Science Museum in downtown Raleigh. Ben was over the moon (get it?) about being asked to hang-out with Julie and couldn't wait for their day together.

From then on, Julie and Ben alternated planning dates, including trips to cultural festivals and street fairs, concerts at the symphony, board-game nights, trips to the beach, and (sometimes over-ambitious) hikes in the mountains. When Ben's Dad learned that Julie played golf, he had just two words of advice: "Marry her." Julie and Ben explored first Savannah and then Alaska (to meet Julie's friend Rachel who was working there), and finally, on the first labor-day weekend they were together, Julie and Ben took their first trip "outside" the country and spent a weekend in Québec. Needless to say, Ben couldn't believe how lucky he was to have such a kind, beautiful, caring and enthusiastic partner to share in all of these adventures. By this time, Ben was already beginning to think of ways he could make things more official.

—

Part 3: A Summer of Adventure

In May of 2018, Julie and Ben's mutual friends G and Priscilla graduated with their masters degrees. Julie had just started working at Xylem, an international water technology company, and Ben had recently started a business with an old school friend. G, who is from Sri Lanka, suggested that the group celebrate by taking a trip to visit Sri Lanka and to see his family over the summer.

Julie, Ben, Priscilla, and G embarked on a 2-week tour of the island with help from G's parents. They explored ancient monuments, elephant-spotting on a wildlife safari, swimming in the Indian Ocean, drinking lots of Ceylon tea, taking a side-trip to Singapore, and meeting G's extended family. It was the trip of a lifetime, and yet it was only just the beginning of Julie and Ben's travels together.

In October of 2018, Julie found-out that her next work rotation with Xylem would be in Switzerland. She would be spending 8 months working at the company's European headquarters in Schaffhausen, a small town near the German border. Julie and Ben discussed their options, and Ben, who could work remotely, decided that if he could travel with Julie, he would do his best to make the trip with her. But first, he had a question to ask her.

—

Part 4: The Proposal

Julie loves to make scrapbooks of her travels. With all of the recent trips she and Ben had taken, there were far more photos to sort than scrapbooks finished. When Julie and Ben returned from Sri Lanka, Julie was still working on her study-abroad scrapbook from her time in Wales. By this time, Julie and Ben had been together for 2 years. Julie's love for efficiency, interest in rock climbing, every-day gym routine, and preference for Graeter's ice cream had spread to Ben, and Ben had somehow convinced Julie to enjoy running, drinking tea, and liking avocados and hummus. Important as these traits are, the most important thing was that through all of their travels together, they had become tried and true travel companions. Ben was certain that Julie was the person he wanted share his life with, and he had an idea for asking her to marry him that would celebrate their adventures together and help Julie with her scrapbooking in the process.In the months before Julie and Ben travelled to Ohio for the winter holiday, Ben began creating a scrapbook that would commemorate the past 2 years they had spent together, from their very first date (fortuitously caught on camera by Priscilla), to their most recent trip to Sri Lanka. Ben collected all of the materials he needed and began printing photos and making illustrations, telling his and Julie's story page by page. He was living with G in Raleigh and had to make sure that he hid the scrapbook when Julie visited their apartment. At the same time, he got in touch with Julie's grandfather, who has an extensive knowledge of fine jewelry. With his help, Ben purchased an engagement ring for Julie using a stone that her grandfather had kept in his family. It was set by a jeweler in Cleveland and Ben had it shipped to his Grandma, who lives in Massillon, for safe keeping until he and Julie arrived in Ohio.

The hardest part of the entire plan was keeping everything a secret from Julie. Both Ben and Julie's parents knew of his plan, as did their grandparents, since both families were involved in bringing everything together. Traditionally, while Julie and Ben travelled to Ohio together, they spent Christmas Day apart. So, when Ben and Julie arranged a pre-Christmas dinner with both of their families, everyone at the table had to maintain the charade that Julie and Ben wouldn't see each other until after the holiday. Furthermore, Ben travelled to Ohio with Julie with the scrapbook in his suitcase, so he had to make sure that Julie didn't figure-out what was going on before the big day.

Come Christmas Eve, Ben set everything in motion. Around 8pm, with the ring in hand, he borrowed his Dad's car and drove to Julie's grandparents' house in Cleveland. Julie's parents, to whom he had given Julie's scrapbook, were in charge of getting her to open the scrapbook just a few minutes before Ben arrived. On the last page of the scrapbook, Ben had attached a letter for Julie to read. Ben made sure that the last line of the letter was "... After spending these past two years with you, I've finally come-up with a good question to ask you."

At 9pm (not quite precisely when Julie finished reading the letter but as close as Ben could manage) he walked up the driveway of Julie's grandparents' house and rang the doorbell. Julie came to answer the door, and Ben finally got to ask his question — and get the best Christmas gift he'd ever asked for.

—

Part 5: Around the World

On February 11th, 2018, the engaged Julie and Ben boarded a plane and landed the next day in Switzerland, where they loaded their bags into a taxi and moved Julie into her home for the next 8 months. Unfortunately, Ben wasn't able to secure a work visa to stay in Switzerland with her for the entirety of her rotation, but he did his best to stay as close as he could, spending a month working in the United Kingdom and in Croatia at separate times throughout the summer (tough, I know).

Throughout her time in Switzerland, Julie and Ben travelled as much as they could. They went skiing in the alps, hiking in the mountains, and swimming in the Rhine. They visited Mozart's familial home in Salzburg with Julie's friend Rachel, traveled to Lucerne with Priscilla and Elizabeth, hiked the Reichenbach Falls with Julie's friend Cam, saw the Tour de France in Lyon, stayed on Lake Léman with their friends Salvatore and Angela, visited Ben's friend Isaac in Bologna, and moved Chloe into her apartment in Leister for her studies in England.

They also met and became friends with some amazing people along the way, including their British gym instructors in Schaffhausen, Andy & Claire, their friends near the apartment, Michael and Tiziana, and Angela's father and his wife who live on Lake Léman, Domenico and Véronique.

Throughout all of their travels, Julie and Ben have been supported by family, friends, and loved ones. Nothing that they've done would have been possible without their help. They can't wait to share this part of their adventure with you on their wedding day!

Photos