Reality Ministries

Rehearsal Dinner

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

Wedding Ceremony

Ceremony

Wedding Ceremony and Reception (pending COVID restrictions)

Post-Ceremony Drive-By

Reality Minsitries

Reception

Tune in live (Saturday, July 31st from 1-2pm) or watch our wedding online later on!

Wedding Ceremony Live Stream

Our Wedding

Frozen Treats & Providence

﻿Early high school: Quinn and Annie serve frozen desserts at two different Rita’s Italian Ices, thirty minutes from each other. Good Friday, 2015: Quinn and Annie meet at a finalist weekend for the BN Duke scholarship. Annie asks Quinn if she can help make smoothies at an event. He assents. They blend. The pair has fun making smoothies together. Only frozen fruit -- no sparks of romantic intrigue -- fly that night. Fall 2015: Quinn asks Annie to have dinner in Duke’s dining hall. Quinn doesn’t remember this dinner until several months into their dating relationship. Summer 2017: College-graduate Quinn visits a friend’s farm with some neighbors, an hour from Durham. Sophomore Annie is at the farm, completing a summer live-in internship. Quinn tries ashamedly and in vain to pull that-girl-who-helped-him-make-smoothies’ name out of his thick skull. Fortunately, he hears one of her housemates call her, and his honor is saved. January 2018: Thomas F. Preston invites Annie to Reality Ministries’ cafe. Annie loves it and asks to volunteer. February 2018: Quinn and Annie run into each other at a BN scholarship event. They make vague plans to “catch up.” March 8th, 2018: After four reschedules, Quinn and Annie finally go on a walk. Quinn is smitten. He writes many letters to Annie that she won’t read for several years and tells his 25 closest friends about her. Maundy Thursday, 2018: Three walks later, standing under a cherry blossom tree outside of Duke Chapel, in a moment of quiet, Annie asks Quinn, “what are you thinking about?” Quinn, seizing the moment (and desiring to remain utterly truthful), says, “I’m thinking about...how I want to take you out on a date!” Utterly surprised, Annie says, “What? Okay, yeah!” April 7th, 2018: Their first date. It’s raining and 40 degrees. Which is great if they had planned to play board games, but the plan was a walk at the Eno River. They stuck to the plan. Quinn brought lunch, snacks, a prayer book, and far too few layers of clothing, and they set out. 5 hours later, they returned, just in time for Quinn to change out of his sopping wet clothes and head to a friend’s wedding. April 28, 2018: Annie meets Quinn’s parents for the first time over lunch at Foster’s. Conversation topics include personal finances and probably other things but all we remember are the personal finances. Quinn and his dad really get into it (in the best of ways). Annie is not deterred. May 2018: A shared Google Doc of silly original poems turns into a shared journal that Quinn and Annie pass back and forth even now.&nbsp; September 29th, 2018: Annie is stung by a mysterious bug at Anna and Nate Hood’s wedding. She goes into mild anaphylactic shock. Quinn makes a beeline towards the hospital, pushing 90 mph on I-85 (150% of his usual max speed). Thanks to a timely dose of Benadryl, Annie begins to lose the hives and breathe clearly again. Quinn begins a personal quest to remind all stinging insects that stinging is not what you do to your friends. September 30th, 2018: Annie’s birthday. Quinn writes a long letter to Annie, the end of which says, “I love you, Annie Janick.” Annie reciprocates. Many joyful tears are shed. Fall 2018-Spring 2019: Quinn thinks he wants to be a farmer. He and Annie help out a whole bunch at the Reality Farm, and even have a late night weeding date (headlamps included). To the neighbors, they end up looking more suspicious than romantic. Spring 2019: Quinn realizes farming isn’t for him, applies for and receives a job at Reality Ministries. Annie applies for and receives a yearlong Fellowship at Reality Ministries. August 2019: Annie moves four doors down from Quinn in the North Street Neighborhood to begin the Fellowship. They begin doing laundry together. Quinn learns how to properly fold t-shirts. September 30th, 2019: Annie becomes feverish and “squirmy.” After several days of ominous mystery and thanks to George O’Neal at Lil’ Farm, we finally correctly diagnose her sickness as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a tick-borne illness. Quinn becomes Annie’s caretaker throughout a hard several weeks. Annie fully recovers, and Quinn begins a personal quest to remind all ticks that biting is not what you do to your friends. January 2020: A few days after Quinn and Annie decide not to talk about the future yet, Annie goes on a walk by herself at the Eno. When she returns, Quinn asks what she’s thinking about, and she says, “I think I want to marry you someday.” They are both excited. Many joyful tears are shed. They don’t talk about the future again for 9 months. March 2020: Covid comes to Durham, and the safest way for Annie and Quinn to be together is outside -- specifically, an hour-long walk down Glendale Ave every morning and many, many hours being overly attentive to a neighbor’s garden (two houses down from where they’ll live together married!).&nbsp; May 2020: Annie interviews for a job at Red Hawk Farm. She’s offered the job, and she takes it! June 2020: Annie has oral surgery. Quinn decides Annie looks very cute without one of her front teeth. Early July 2020: Annie comes down with a serious case of mouth ulcers. Quinn becomes her caretaker again, maintaining her medicine regimen, blending three frozen drinks a day, and establishing a texting relationship with three doctors. He accidentally masquerades as a doctor himself. He sleeps on the floor of her bedroom for a week straight and says “it’s like a honeymoon!” Annie begs to differ. Then she fully recovers. Late July 2020: Quinn’s personal quest to remind all mouth ulcers that ulcers don’t strike their friends is interrupted by another round of ulcers. Annie fully recovers again. August 2020: Annie moves for the 5th time in their relationship, just a few blocks farther down the street. Quinn rolls with it, but both feel more separation as their homes and work diverge in a Durham wood. They’re tryna converge. September 2020: Quinn and Annie talk about the future for the first time since Annie told Quinn she wanted to marry him right after they decided not to talk about the future. They decide that their personal quests to enjoy life might involve sharing it. October 2020: Quinn and Annie go home. Annie talks to Quinn’s parents about marrying him. Quinn talks to Annie’s parents about marrying her. Much joy abounds. November 7th, 2020: Annie and Quinn propose to each other at the Confluence of the West and East forks of the Eno, 2 years and 7 months to the day after they first walked in the Eno together. Two random hikers are the first to know of their engagement. Today: We have the joy of celebrating our life together with each of you.

Our Story

Click the link to the website below to get a special group rate for our wedding!

Residence Inn - Downtown Durham

Travel

One of our staple Saturday excursions and a stone's throw from where we will live once we're married, the Farmers' Market is a fun (and COVID-Safe) way to meet your local food producers, sample delicious wares, and experience a bit of the Saturday morning Durham scene.

Durham Farmers' Market

JUNE 2021 UPDATE: The gardens are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC and beautiful. Annie and I went and they're still just as beautiful. Where Annie first met Quinn's mom (they talked about calligraphy), and where there's always something stunning in bloom. Quinn's favorite section is the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants...and it's not just because of the suffix.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

They've got the best croissants. And cinnamon rolls. And muffins. They're good baking teachers (quinn's learned a lot from Ari and Alex, the experts there). They're real close to where Quinn and Annie will live, and we've enjoyed many a Saturday morning pick-me-up courtesy of these great folks.

Ninth Street Bakery

Annie and Quinn had their first date on the Eno, and it's also where they proposed to one another. Take a walk on any of the miles of trails. Take a dip in the river. Take a gander at foraging for edible mushrooms (one of Quinn's hobbies...but ONLY ingest if you have an expert mushroomer ID them first...chanterelles and oysters should be in season!).

Eno River State Park

Things to Do

Peyton beats me at every game we play and isn't afraid to tell it like it is (especially when I'm about to lose). 

She's a fan of Dove Bars and dog cakes, Chick-Fil-A and chillin'. She a great gatherer of people, former 25-yard butterfly Neighborhood Pool Record Holder, and my favorite sister.

Peyton stood up for me when we were young and the big boys made fun of my bowl cut (see above), stood over me after she had wrestled me to the ground, and now she'll stand beside me as I join my life with my love.

Peyton Tompkins

It was fun while it lasted, but the days of matching outfits have come to a close -- Jane is a fashionista everywhere she goes. She loves to send funny sister memes, google the restaurant menu days before we eat out, and obsess over our cat Rocky (just like me). I'm grateful for her welcome of Quinn and to have her next to me as we marry!

Quinn & Annie

Quinn & Annie

Travel

Residence Inn - Downtown Durham