Both Meredith and Johno's travel bug was ignited at an early age. In 2011, when they met on the dance floor in a well known Cape Town bar (and even managed to snap a few photos together), they knew they had at least their love for adventure in common. Meredith was enjoying her final night in South Africa while on her Semester at Sea study abroad. While Johno was off on a year-long backpacking trip, first port of call, Cape Town. Only a day later, Meredith proceeded to email her friends back in the US to jokingly tell them that she had met her future husband. Little did she know, her dramatic comment would come to fruition 11 years later.

Meredith and Johno kept in touch via email and Facebook for the following few months, as Johno began his travels around South America and Meredith continued her Semester at Sea adventure throughout Asia. Life moved on for both of them until Johno reached out during Meredith's first year living in South Korea, asking if he could come visit her in Seoul. Johno and his charming Aussie accent had always been in the back of Meredith's mind, so that was an easy, “yes!”

During Meredith's four years of living in Korea, Johno made the "quick trip" three times. He tried all of the Korean delicacies, drank lots of soju, froze on the ski mountains, and made friends with many locals. Then, at the end of her time in Seoul, Meredith made her way to the Land Down Under. Johno showed her all the best parts of Perth, took her down to the family block in the Ferguson Valley and wined and dined her in Margaret River. They said goodbye, with tears in their eyes, as Meredith was off to live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

When Johno called up Meredith a year and a half later and told her he may be moving to Rio for work, she couldn't allow herself to believe it. What were the chances? He asked her what neighborhoods to look at for apartments and told her the area of his potential job. Meredith told Johno that she couldn't bear to get her hopes up to then be disappointed, so she asked him not mention it until he was certain. Then the spontaneity of Johno really shined through...with no warning and after not speaking for weeks, Johno proceeded to send Meredith a photo of a plane ticket from Heathrow London Airport to Guarulhos Airport in Rio de Janeiro, with a caption that said , "Guess Where I Am?"

Johno touched down in Rio and the two were finally on the same continent, in the same country! They lived nearly 40+ minutes from each other for the first 6 months, but that was a lot closer than ever before, so there were no complaints. After a year of living in Rio, Johno moved into Meredith's beachside apartment and they made it their first home together. Fresh agua de cocos and acai bowls were a regular weekend morning routine. Carnaval costumes were planned weeks in advance and glitter showed up in apartment crevices weeks after the festivities were over. The two of them hiked many of the famous Rio peaks and Brazil's vibrancy, color, and kind hearted people will be dear to them forever.

After a couple of years spent together in Rio and COVID times spent apart, Meredith and Johno decided to take a year off from work and travel the states by van. They visited over 30 national parks, ate delicious southern food, had the chance to catch up with old friends, and lived quite comfortably out of Pappy, their trusted camper van, for 5 months. During their year off they visited Mexico and Panama for a month and adventured around Europe a bit. On January 15th, 2022 Johno popped the question in front of the church of St.John (fitting, right?) on beautiful Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia. Feeling thrilled to be able to call each other fiancés, the newly engaged couple made their way to southern Spain to embark on the Camino de Santiago, the Via de la Plata route, a 2 week long walking trip. They ended in Caceres, with blisters on their feet and completely sick of jamon and queso, but feeling very fulfilled and eager to complete the second half of the route to Santiago at a later date.

Only weeks later, Meredith and Johno made the big move to Frankfurt Germany. They arrived at the tail end of winter, but had the warm weather and blue skies to look forward to in Gibraltar. Due to European visa reasons, a quick wedding was a must and Gibraltar, located just south of Spain, was the perfect place to get married. Their closest loved ones flew to Gibraltar and a beautiful intimate wedding took place on April 12, 2022.

The papers have been signed and the legal bit is done, but there is one last thing to do to finalize their marriage...celebrate with all of the people that are nearest and dearest to them. The Wilson Wedding Weekend will be one for ages; a chance to unite family and friends scattered across the globe and explore one of Meredith and Johno's favorite cities! Can’t wait to celebrate with you in Lisbon!