His Story:

If the groom had a dollar for every time someone asked “Canandaigua, now, is that in Canada?” this wedding would be held on a private island in the Mediterranean, and all of your travel expenses would have been covered. If there was an additional dollar for the question “Now how far is that from New York City?”, the travel in question would have been in a private jet made of solid gold. Nevertheless, this small town outside of Rochester in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York is where the groom was born and grew up until leaving for college.

The youngest in a mixed family of 3 daughters and 1 son, Connor was born to Robert and Michelle Raeman. Early in life Connor developed a love for sports, school, and hunting and fishing, all of which he continues to enjoy today. Connor attended multiple schools throughout K-8 but eventually landed at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester where he was involved in Student Government, Campus Ministry, Ice Hockey and Golf. By graduation, Connor had won both an individual and team State Championship in Golf, posted an undefeated season as the starting Varsity Ice Hockey Goalie in route to another State Championship, and was elected to the highest tier of student council. With multiple options to continue his athletic and academic career, he made an unexpected choice to commit to Penn State. An out of state school with no familial connections or mutual friends attending, he could feel there was something calling him to be there. At the time, he thought it was the mix of opportunities with the familiar setting of cornfields within driving distance of home, but later found out it was fate.

Upon arrival in State College, Connor majored in Biology in hopes of one day attending medical school. After one too many classes on plants and not a single lecture on how to perform open heart surgery, he decided to switch majors to Economics for the unique mix of business, mathematics, and computer science. In Connor’s first three years at Penn State, he competed on the Men’s Varsity Golf Team while getting involved in the Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB) as well as Penn State THON. By the spring of his Junior year in 2018, Connor was selected to represent SAAB as a THON dancer in the 46 hour no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon.

Senior year was a challenging time for Connor as his father was battling Stage 4 Melanoma and Connor made the difficult decision to step back from the Men’s Golf Team in order to travel back and forth between Canandaigua and State College as frequently as he could. No longer attending golf practice after class each day, Connor took the opportunity to join a THON committee which only met once per week, but allowed him to stay involved in a cause and community that he cared deeply about. Shortly after signing up and being assigned to a committee, Connor was informed that due to an administrative error, he was going to be moved to a different committee. Again, fate was nudging him to where he needed to be.

Her Story:

For those of you on the Groom’s side, there is some vocabulary that you will need to know in order to effectively communicate at this wedding:

“Delco”: This is shorthand for Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

“Ocean City” or “OC”: This strictly applies to Ocean City, New Jersey. Ocean City, Maryland will not, and should not be, confused.

“Just Outside of Philly”: A relative unit of measure that could be anywhere from 10 mins, 1 hour, or that Philadelphia is reachable by plane in less than one day’s travel.

“Go Birds”: A general phrase to be echoed back; a term of endearment.

Just outside of Philly in the heart of Delco, Megan was born the second child of Tom and Peggy Greer and grew up in Media, Pennsylvania. Megan attended St. Francis de Sales through 8th grade before attending high school at Penncrest High School. In 2nd grade Megan was in her first theater production and the rest was history. Since 2nd grade she has performed in a number of shows through her High School, Ocean City Theater Company, and Media Theatre. While balancing theater, Megan also played Volleyball and worked at Del’s Oceanside Grill on the Ocean City Boardwalk for a total of 10 summers. When she wasn’t at work, you could find Megan enjoying every drop of the summer sun in Ocean City.

Megan knew from a young age that she wanted to be a teacher. Her passion for helping others succeed is abundantly clear to all that know her. When it was time to select a college to pursue her dream, she decided to follow her brother to Penn State Altoona, where she immediately got involved in everything they had to offer. To name a few, Megan was involved in Lion Ambassadors, Gamma Phi Beta, and most importantly a Special Events caption for Penn State THON. By just her sophomore year, Megan was selected to represent Penn State Altoona as one of only 5 dancer representatives to THON in 2018 (sound familiar? That’s right! Connor and Megan danced in THON the same year, on the same floor, for 46 consecutive hours and never met!). By the end of Sophomore year Megan was ready to take on a bigger challenge and decided to transfer to Penn State main campus in State College to finish her degree in Secondary Education with a specialization in Mathematics.

Continuing the trend, upon her arrival in State College, Megan immediately got involved with Harmonies and THON. As a former dancer, Megan decided to lend her experience to the THON Dancer Relations committee, which is dedicated to helping dancers make it through the long weekend.

Our Story:

For those of you who know the bride and groom (or took the time to read their stories above) it is clear that the story of Meg and Connor’s relationship could someday be converted into one of those sappy Hallmark movies that we all love to watch around the holiday season. So how did the girl from “just outside of Philly” fall for the golfer from the farmlands?

As fate would have it, Megan and Connor found themselves on the same THON Dancer Relations committee in 2019. (Which, for what it’s worth, had a strict no dating fellow committee members policy…whoops!)

Connor’s father passed away a few days after the committee’s first meeting and he missed the following few meetings to be home in Upstate. Upon arrival back at campus, he attended the 4th meeting where he had planned to participate for the time being and then quietly let the leader of the group know that he was going to step away from the committee to focus on other things. It was at this meeting that Connor spotted the most amazing thing he had ever encountered, Meg. Her energy and charisma illuminated the whole room and he forgot all about the hardships he was living through for those 45 minutes, without even directly talking to her. Enamored by the blonde girl across the room, Connor walked out of the meeting without talking to the leader of the committee.

After a few weeks, Connor kept coming back to the weekly meetings to be in the presence of the girl he couldn’t stop thinking about. Eventually, with the help of some friends (shoutout to Haley and Julia) who knew how hard Connor had fallen for Meg, the four of them met in the library to study together. This quickly became an almost daily habit for the group and Connor finally got up the courage to ask Meg to study together outside of the group…and she said Yes! For weeks, the two met for coffee and to enjoy each other’s company while studying through the end of the first semester. By second semester, nearly the entire THON committee knew that they were secretly breaking the rules, but thankfully everyone was on board that this was a forever type of thing. After THON, Connor and Megan were chosen to be ‘married’ (a THON tradition) at the post-THON committee party (talk about some foreshadowing!).

With a few months left in the school year, the two had a difficult decision to make. With Megan only a Junior and Connor unsure of what was ahead both academically and professionally, they needed to decide if they were willing to fully commit to the relationship despite all the uncertainties and long distance. Thankfully they decided that they were both 100% in it for the long haul.

When summer arrived they went their separate ways and worked out a detailed travel plan where they would visit each other every 3 weeks to make sure there was never a full month apart. As fall arrived, Megan returned to Penn State and Connor continued to work multiple jobs in hopes of returning to Penn State to finish his degree. By Spring, Connor returned to Penn State and the late night library dates resumed after nearly a year of Face Times and car drives. Unfortunately, after only 7 weeks of being together at last, COVID gripped the nation and all Penn State students were sent home. Back to long distance it was.

Over the course of the next year, both Megan and Connor finished their degrees virtually and spent extended periods of time at each other’s homes. After graduation, Connor accepted a virtual job in Boston while Megan took a substitute position close to home. As COVID began to wind down, the two were uncertain at how their fairy tale was going to play out.

Connor knew that he needed to be closer to Megan than the 5.5 hour car ride that he became so used to that he could drive it in his sleep. After applying to every business role within 3 hours of Delco, he landed a position at a Management Consulting firm in Arlington, VA. This would cut the distance in half and make visiting on a weekly basis a possibility. Upon hearing the news, Megan immediately started her search and was hired as a full-time Math teacher in Alexandria, VA. Neither of them having ever been to Arlington, VA before, they began apartment hunting online and shortly after began their lives together, ending 3 years of on and off long distance dating. Thankfully, both Megan and Connor already had amazing friends living in Arlington and the adventures that have ensued have been absolutely incredible.

After 2 years in Arlington, Connor knew it was time. After securing permission on the annual family camping trip, he planned out a private sun rise photoshoot as a birthday present for Megan. At approximately 6AM, when all good proposals take place, Connor popped the question and Megan said “LETS GOOO!” (Philly for “Yes”).

We are so incredibly blessed and excited to celebrate our wedding with all of you. See you in Ocean City on July 27th, 2024.