When Sarah was a little girl, she dreamed about getting married in a white dress in a beautiful church like her parents had. But the older she got, the less appealing the idea became. By the time she was 10, Sarah thought she might want to be a nun, because the idea of living in community with other women seemed more appealing than marrying a man. It wasn’t until a few years later that she realized there was a third option!

When Sarah came out as a lesbian at age 15, same sex marriage was only legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She knew at that age that her childhood dream of a Church wedding would be impossible. Because she didn’t know any openly LGBTQ adults, Sarah had no roadmap for what her life would look like. She wondered if she’d ever find not just a woman who wanted to kiss her, but a partner who wanted to build a life together. Sarah spent her early 20s writing sappy romantic poetry and hoping that the universe would help her find her wife.

When Kaitlyn was a little girl, she didn’t spend much time thinking about weddings. All she knew was that she didn’t want to get married in a church - a mountain top wedding was her only must-have. When Kaitlyn realized she liked women at age 18, it was not a big deal, as she had had lots of queer role models and friends throughout her life. But her idea of a wedding seemed out of reach. In 2011, the Defence of Marriage Act (‘DOMA’) still meant that any future marriage to a woman would not be recognized by the federal government, nor were there any guarantees that she and a future wife would be able to have equal rights in all fifty states.

When DOMA was challenged in the Supreme Court in 2015, Kaitlyn was working at her first office job and followed the proceedings daily on the radio. When the ruling came down, overturning it, she was overjoyed. But in the back of her mind, she still wondered where she’d ever find a gal who wanted to marry her.

Everything changed in March 2017 when Sarah was 24 and Kaitlyn was 23.

Sarah was a year out of college working as a paralegal and was just about ready to give up on online dating for a while after going on too many first dates that had led to nowhere. In fact, Sarah had just been ghosted by another woman that very week!

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn was working long hours as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Chelsea, and had opened OKCupid for the first time in three years on a whim.

Sarah caught Kaitlyn’s eye immediately – she’d filled out her entire dating profile and had a picture with a cute leather jacket to boot. Kaitlyn immediately asked Sarah where she’d like to meet up.

Sarah and Kaitlyn met in person on the last day of March in 2017 for an outdoor ice cream date on a bitter cold, blustery and downright drizzly evening. Both almost canceled the date! But ultimately decided to take a chance. Sarah biked all the way from Medford to downtown Somerville after a long day, and Kaitlyn took a 90 minute ride on the bus and the T over from Chelsea. Despite the weather, they spent an hour together.

In the early weeks, Sarah didn’t quite know if the innate chemistry between them was romantic or platonic, but Kaitlyn certainly knew! She asked Sarah to be her girlfriend within just a few dates. Sarah needed a little more time to be sure about this next step, but came around after thinking it through - a pattern that would persist throughout their relationship.

On May 10, 2017, Sarah decided she was ready to commit to being Kaitlyn’s girlfriend. She surprised Kaitlyn with a home cooked meal and gave her a potted violet, a traditional symbol of Sapphic desire from the early 20th century. Crying happy tears, Kaitlyn asked Sarah how she had known it was Kaitlyn’s birthday. Sarah had no idea - but the universe must have known!

Over the next two years, Sarah and Kaitlyn continued to date while Kaitlyn was in graduate school. Sarah would often drive over to the Tufts campus after work with dinner to feed her stressed out girlfriend. As the relationship grew more serious, Sarah and Kaitlyn began talking about moving to DC together. Kaitlyn’s goal was to work for the federal government, and Sarah wanted to go back to school to become a Latin America regional expert. When Kaitlyn was hired by the IRS and Sarah was accepted to her Masters program at George Washington University, all of the pieces fell into place.

In the summer of 2019, Sarah and Kaitlyn moved down to DC. They decided not to move in together right away, determining that doing so and dealing with a brand new city, Kaitlyn’s new job, and Sarah’s new academic program all at once would be too many changes at one time. However, very quickly, Sarah ended up staying at Kaitlyn’s apartment three or four nights a week anyway. Being separated for several months during the early pandemic and missing each other desperately made things crystal clear. In August 2020, Sarah moved in with Kaitlyn, knowing that doing so was, for her, the first step towards eventually marrying the woman she loved.

Moving in together during the height of the pandemic sure was intense! For months, Sarah and Kaitlyn rarely saw anyone else in person. But as the world opened up again, Sarah and Kaitlyn emerged stronger and closer than ever. They knew that if they could make it through graduate school (twice!) and a global pandemic, their relationship was strong enough to last through whatever life threw at them. By mid 2021, Sarah was referring to Kaitlyn as her partner. Girlfriend wasn’t enough anymore to capture what Kaitlyn meant to her.

Kaitlyn decided she wanted to marry Sarah in July 2021 and, having an inkling that Sarah might try a proposal on Valentines’ Day or their fifth anniversary, she knew she had to act fast. She was determined to beat Sarah to the punch!

Sarah started eying either Valentines’ Day 2022 or their fifth anniversary in March 2022 as opportunities to propose to Kaitlyn, just as Kaitlyn had anticipated. So she was incredibly surprised when, on Thanksgiving 2021, Kaitlyn drove Sarah to Nauset Light Beach, Sarah’s favorite place in the whole world, and popped the question. Like their first date, it was freezing cold out, and so dark that Sarah couldn’t even see Kaitlyn get down on one knee! But none of that mattered.

Kaitlyn gave Sarah an antique violet brooch as an engagement gift and they tied blue ribbons around their ring fingers in lieu of diamond rings. Sarah said yes of course <3

The brides are so grateful to all who can be here for their special day, blessed by the mountains, sky and summer air, surrounded by loved ones. They are looking forward to having a fabulous wedding and reception with you and are looking forward to many more years together.

K&S

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Wedding Day

5:00 PM–6:00 PM

Ceremony

6:00 PM–10:30 PM

Reception