Love in the Time of COVID-19:

To our family and friends,

We have made the decision to postpone our wedding due to COVID-19. We value your health and want you to feel safe celebrating with us!

Please cancel any travel plans and room reservations you had for Seattle and Kingston for May 1-3, 2020

We plan to get married in a small ceremony in May 2020 and go on our honeymoon to New Zealand at the end of the year if conditions have improved. Our May 1, 2021 wedding will be a time to celebrate our marriage with you, our loved ones. It will be just like the original wedding we planned - a ceremony and reception following.

We are so sorry for the change of plans, but we want everyone we love to be safe and have settled minds. That way, we can all celebrate without worry next year!.

We love you all - please reach out with any questions you may have.

How did you two meet?

Shawna: We both worked part-time as software testers my senior year of college.

Sam: On my first day at work I had to go around and introduce myself to a handful of coworkers. It was a bit of an awkward experience until I started talking with Shawna. Right away I thought wow she's really cool I hope we can get to know each other better!

Shawna: But... we didn't talk again for another month or so when I got 9th wheel invited to a night of bar hopping. Typical engineering hangout, 8 dudes, one girl.

Sam: It was a bit of a reunion as a few of my friends were back in town after graduating and moving away.

Shawna: After several beers, Sam let loose and showed off his sweet moves on the dance floor and I told him we needed to hang out more.

When was your first date?

Sam: We like to say that we had an accidental first date. Shawna planned a group outing to see The Theory of Everything which tells the story of Stephen Hawking (yeah we are nerds). When it came time to see the movie all of our other friends bailed so we were the only two and decided to go anyways. I'm glad we did because we had a great time at the movie and then hung out and talked for three hours afterwards!

What happened next?

Shawna: About a month later we admitted we had feelings for each other and decided to officially start dating. As luck would have it, 12 hours later Sam got an offer for a full time job in San Diego (6 hours away).

Sam: Yeah, the timing was pretty unfortunate...

Shawna: But we decided to enjoy the time we had together, a whopping 1 month, before Sam left to spend a month in Thailand with his best friend. We talked when we could while he was gone, and I decided to start looking at post-college job opportunities in San Diego.

Sam: While I was in Thailand Shawna and I emailed love letters to each other and video chatted when we could. When I got back from my trip I told Shawna I loved her to which she replied "I know, I love you too!"

Shawna: and "P.S. I got a job offer in San Diego while you were gone and will take it with the stipulation that we move to Washington after 3-5 years"

Fast forward 3.5 years

Shawna: After 3.5 years, 4 jobs, 2 international trips, 1 cat, and more tacos than I can count, we moved to Washington!

The proposal

Sam: My number one goal for the proposal was to surprise Shawna, and surprise her I did! In late April 2019 we went camping on Orcas Island, a beautiful island in the San Juans between Washington and Canada. Our first night of the trip was a bit rough as we discovered our air mattress had a hole in it when we woke up in the middle of the night cold and uncomfortable as we were sleeping on the ground. The next day we hiked to the top of Mt. Constitution, which is the highest peak in the San Juans. I hid the ring in my camera bag which Shawna carried the whole hike up the mountain, I had to make her earn it! Once we got to the top, we climbed up the stone tower which has amazing 360 degree views of the area. While Shawna was enjoying a view of the far off mountains in Canada, I pulled out the ring and proposed. After asking me at least ten times if it was really happening she said yes!

Shawna: I was shocked! It was the perfect place for a proposal.

Both: We're looking forward to starting this new adventure together!