Kolleen had just returned from a year in Spain and Sam was in Lima between semesters at Ohio State. Despite working for the same employer for the two summers prior (shoutout to Lima City Parks and Recreation), they never spoke. Kolleen with the kids, and Sam on the mower... always watching each other from afar (lol).

Call it fate or call it sheer blind luck, but Sam won tickets to Country Concert on the radio and thanks to plenty of mutual friends, he ended up at Kolleen's campsite. A weekend full of music, drinking, pizza, and the dirtiest of all venues... I guess you can say their story started in the ~glamorous~ Fort Loramie.

A few weeks later, Kolleen headed back to Alabama, and Sam back to Columbus. Sam slid into Kolleen's snapchat messages with the line, "we should get pizza sometime" and they kept in touch while living 720 miles apart. Sam's favorite hobby was calling Kolleen while he was walking home after a night out, knowing she'd be awake finishing a bartending shift. Kolleen invited Sam to her sorority formal and much to her surprise, he showed up! 22 hours of driving for one weekend in Alabama. The deal was sealed.

After a summer in Lima that consisted of karaokeing at Mulligans multiple nights a week, Kolleen moved to Tennessee for graduate school. For the next two years, they lived 429 miles apart, proving once again that love knows no distance. Sam made the move in 2019.

After surviving them both finishing graduate school, Covid, unemployment, and wild nights out in Nashville, they loaded up a U-Haul and headed back to Ohio in 2020.

Fast forward to today, still living the dream in Columbus with their 11 year old bunny, Cuddles!

Hard to believe over 9 years have passed since the first weekend together!!!!

Registry