Life can be a blur sometimes. As famously stated in Ferris Bueller’s Day off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Back in 2017, Libby and I both had our own lives, own plans, own groups of friends, and no intent on settling down, but things change.

I am a firm believer in chance and fate. Once you find the right person, you come to realize that you never truly lived before you met them. That is what we found together when Libby and I met on January 19th, 2018. We met in Breckenridge, CO, at a gathering of friends, and unbeknownst to us, there were thoughts among our friends that we would be a good fit for each other. They were correct!

We started officially dating on February 17, 2018, just one short month after we first met and after a few fantastic dates where we got to really know each other. She works as a counselor whereas I work in sales, so we did not have trouble keeping up conversation. We shared our love of sports, specifically baseball, the mountains, adventures, good food, music, and many other similar interests. We have enjoyed going to sports games, concerts, weekend ski/snowboard trips and other trips along the beautiful Colorado landscape and doing other fun things with our friends and our amazing dog, Chance.

In the beginning, infatuation can be inevitable when you feel like something is there, and it certainly was here. With that said, sometimes these feelings can fade; they certainly did not with us. That is when we knew it was meant to be. We shared our feelings and we started to believe that we could never be apart and that is when we knew: WE WERE IN LOVE!!!

We moved into our first home together in June 2019, as we knew we were ready to take the next step. We enjoyed living together immediately and getting to see each other every day and starting to build our life together.

Fast forward to 2020, right before the COVID fiasco got started. With the blessing of Libby’s parents, Kent and Debbie, as well as with the help of my amazing mother (also Debbie!), sister (Christy), and father (Steve), we coordinated a plan for me to propose, at the same place we met in Breckenridge, CO. On February 14, 2020, I asked Libby to marry me and she said YES!!!

After our engagement, we spent some time looking for a picturesque location for a beautiful mountain wedding and arrived at North Star Gatherings in Idaho Springs, as we felt it was the best place for us to create the next memory together with all our family and friends. This leads us to where we are today: excited to share our story and our future with all those we hold dear, and to obviously celebrate some festivities that go with a wedding party as well!

For those curious about our near future: we plan to stay in our current home for a few years, although it is not a forever home yet. We expect to have our “honeymoon” as more of a one-year anniversary, as travel will be simpler by that time. We plan on having children sooner rather than later and we look forward to welcoming some little ones into the fold!

We leave you today with the prospect of a fantastic event, the marriage of Elizabeth Margaret Quackenbush and Shaun Alexander Barnes. We also wholeheartedly understand those that cannot join us due to safety precautions. We love you all regardless and we cannot wait to make our union official!!

“True love is the soul’s recognition of its counterpoint in another.” – Wedding Crashers

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