Jennifer and Iain were married at the Tapestry House in Laporte, CO (close to Fort Collins) two days before the New Year.  Although, the temperature during the wedding never rose above 22 degrees, these two were incredibly good sports and braved the weather to have photos outside!  Luckily, they chose to have their morning ceremony indoors under rows of chandeliers and twinkle lights.  Then, they finished off their perfect afternoon with a hot chocolate bar, a healthy luncheon, and a bubble-filled send off.

“The first time I saw Jen was in the organic chemistry lab I was teaching at the University of North Texas when I was a graduate student. I remember letting the students into the lab when I first saw her. I remember thinking, “She looks cute!” But of course being her teaching assistant, I knew nothing could happen between us. She took the seat/lab station right next to the front of the lab where I would teach from, which I was pleasantly surprised with. I remember she was very quiet, had very nicely written reports with excellent hand writing, and was my secret crush from there on”

“The most beautiful thing about Jen is how sweet and kind she is. I’m pretty sure I’ve never met anyone so nice and easy to get along with. In fact, my Dad on numerous occasions has also exclaimed about how easy she is to get along with. She is able to put up with me on my worst days and I just love that about her.”

“Our first date was at Chuey’s, a Mexican restaurant in Denton, Texas. It was only after the semester had finished and we were able to finally go on a date. I remember she had long hair at the time and was very beautiful. We got a table for two in the busy restaurant and just talked. She told me about her family – her sister and parents, and then her friends. She wasn’t 21 at the time, so she couldn’t order a drink, but I was very nervous so I ordered 2 margaritas – I think they helped. I remember talked about cats quite a bit, which it turns out we both like and one day will have our own. After the date was over, I didn’t want to come on too strong so I just gave her a hug at her car and then went on my way. It must have went well because we are now getting married, 6 years later.”

“I’m most excited to marry Jen because I’m ready to start a life with her together. I’m ready to get a cat, have a house, and all the other wonderful things that come along with it. I just want to spend all of my time with her!”

“One trait of Jen’s I admire is how patient she is. I can be very impatient (which she knows!), so to have her around and show me that sometimes you just need to slow down is very good for me.”

“I guess the first time I got to know Jen was in the lab I taught, although it was a professional setting so I couldn’t really get to know her as well as I liked. I remember she was wearing some nice running shoes, so I started to talk to her and her lab partner (who was on the track team at UNT and definitely had a crush on her too!) about running. She made conversation with me about it and didn’t seem to hate running. I later found out once we started dating that she did indeed hate running, so she had to fake it so that I would like her more! I guess you could say it worked.”

“I am so excited to marry Iain because he is my best friend and we always have the best time together. He really motivates me to do so many things that I would never do on my own. He pushes me to do more exciting and outgoing things in my life. I look forward to a life of exploring new things with him.”

“The most attractive thing about Iain is how positive he is. He always makes the most out of every situation and when I’m feeling down or in a bad mood, he is always so sweet and kind to bring my mood back up.”

“I really admire how inventive and dedicated Iain is to whatever he puts his mind to. He is constantly coming up with new and ridiculous ideas for things. He is so passionate about everything he does, whether it’s something for work or just a hobby of his.”

“I am the lucky one in the relationship because Iain shows me he loves me in his own ways every day. Sometimes it’s in the form of flowers or my favorite ice cream and sometimes it’s just going to eat somewhere that isn’t his favorite but he goes anyway because it’s what I’m craving.”

“I think my favorite date was our second date. I could tell I was already deeply in love with her but was still nervous. I asked some friends what I should do for our second date – my buddy Ahmed suggested to go see the move “Seven Psychopaths”, which in hindsight is a pretty strange movie to have a second date at. I wore cowboy boots – they were about the only decent shoes I had at the time – as well as because I thought she may like country stuff as her family came from a smaller town outside of Denton (it turns out I was wrong about that too!). We went to the movie and I finally held her hand probably about 30 minutes in. I remember they were extremely cold and clammy – she told me after that that’s just how her hands always are. But my favorite part was after the movie was over, she had to drive me to my car as I parked on the other side of the building from the exit. As I got out of the car, I leaned in a gave her a little peck on the cheek and then basically jettisoned out of the car not knowing if I had screwed up making a move too soon. But she told me later she loved it, and I’m glad she did as it was our first kiss.”

“I remember on the day that Iain proposed, he was so nervous. At the time I didn’t notice and thought he was just being silly. For instance, he had the ring box in the breast pocket of his jacket and I leaned in to rest my head on his chest, apparently right next to the box. He then started hysterically laughing for no reason (that I knew of) and came up with some excuse as to why he was laughing. I am notorious for being oblivious and went along with it. Later that day while we were walking around a sequoia forest in California he gave me a sticky note that said “will you marry me?”. It was the most thoughtful and meaningful proposal and I could not have been surprised!”

“I think I knew she was the one when I first saw her walk into the lab I was teaching, even though at the time I knew it would be very difficult to start a relationship. But then I really knew it once we went on our first date. She was so sweet and nice, it was like I was waiting my whole life to meet this person, and it just seemed so right as soon as we started dating.”

“It’s really crazy, but I remember going on our first date and just being swept away by his confidence and charm and thinking, “wow I’ve found the person I want to marry”! Getting to know him was so easy because we had so many things in common and he was so easy to talk to.”

“I really respect how Jen is able to manage her time and her studies in pharmacy school. Even before that, when we were living together and she was driving 45 minutes to work at a pharmacy as a tech, she was so on the ball about managing working, school, and leisure. I sometimes can get overwhelmed by life, so it’s very impressive how she can seem to make it all work. It has taught me to try and keep equally organized and proactive in my time-management.”

“I remember Iain surprised me when I was having finals in pharmacy school and he sent me a box of cookies to show his support. He knows how much of a sweet tooth I have so cookies were the perfect surprise. He was living in Texas and I was in Colorado at the time and it was the sweetest thing for him to send something so thoughtful at a time when I really needed it the most!”

“The biggest surprise she ever gave me was before we even started dating. As I was her TA in organic chemistry, I had to be professional. But the Monday after Thanksgiving I was grading all of the lab reports the students had turned in the previous week. When I got to hers, it had a post-it note on the last page saying she thought I was very handsome and smart. I couldn’t believe what I was reading – not only because I had a secret crush on her as well, but because she seemed so shy in the class it seemed completely out of the realm of possibility that she would do something like that! I was so excited and surprised that I ended up calling about 4 people explaining my disbelief. But the semester wasn’t over at that point, so I couldn’t really make a move immediately. I took her sticky-note off and added my own that said, “Talk to me after the semester. And thanks!” A few weeks later when the semester was over we started dating!”

“I love it when he is super focused on something, like when he is playing video games or tennis, and he sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. The more intense whatever he is doing gets, the more quickly he chews on his tongue. It is so innocent and I love it!”

“One quirk that Jen has that I love is that when she sleeps she needs to be holding only something with her hands, like a teddy bear or a blanket. I recently bought her this poofy, stuffed animal toy that she now uses. It’s the cutest looking thing seeing her curl up with it, but sometimes I want to hold it because it’s so soft!”

“I really respect how motivated Iain is. When he gets really into something, there is no slowing him down!”

“I’m the lucky one because Jen is the most special person I’ve ever met. Her kindness, love, patience, beauty, and love of cats makes me the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Iain and I first met in organic chemistry lab at UNT when he was the TA for the class. I saw him and thought he was so cute so I took the desk right next to his for the duration of the semester. At the second-to-last class I decided to put a sticky note in my homework telling him how I felt. We then had a week break for holiday where I thought he would proactively grade the homework giving him a week to forget about the note and I wouldn’t be so embarrassed during the last class. However, he graded it a few hours before the class and I was dreading facing the embarrassment in class. When he handed back our graded assignment I saw a new sticky note that he had written back to me saying we should meet up. The last time I saw him before walking out the door after the last class of the semester he winked at me and I thought I was going to die from embarrassment!”

“The sweetest thing Iain does for me it that he remembers what my favorite things are, like chocolate Blue Bell ice cream, and lets me eat as much as I want without judging me!”

“There are many nice things Jen has done for me over the years, too many to count. I think one of the nicest though is how she would always be willing to help me with my travels with absolutely no hesitation or problem. Anytime I needed a ride to the airport or anywhere else, she would help with no questions asked. Before then it would always seem like a burden to ask people for a ride, but she is always so eager to help me, and it just takes all the stress away. I really appreciate that!”

“I am always so impressed when Iain sits down at a piano and starts playing. It is my favorite thing to see him play and watch the smile on other people’s faces from enjoying his playing and singing.”

“Some of my favorite moments with her are our first Christmas when we lived together in 2015. We both wanted to really get into the holiday spirit so we bought probably $100 dollars worth of lights and decor. It was just special to be able to spend that festive time with her. Another would have to be after my PhD graduation when we traveled to see my older brother and sister-in-law in Arizona followed by visiting my parents in Oregon. Travelling is usually quite boring and high stress when I would go alone, but with her it made it so much easier and more fun. in Arizona we did many activities, but one that stood out was when we hiked up a canyon to a 100 foot-high water fall at the top. It was an amazing site! Another favorite memory was when we were in Oregon, just travelling up and down the pacific coast seeing all of the unique places together. At one point we rode a tour jet-boat up the Rogue River. We stopped to see some seals in the harbor – they were very cute!”

“During the summer after we first started dating, Iain worked as a tutor in the chemistry building at UNT. I would go after class on the days he was working there and we would spend hours together. We got to know each other so well and I love remembering back to those times when we got to spend together at the university where we met. I love all the times when we just laugh until we cry about something. Sometimes it’s really not even very funny but when one of us starts laughing like that it’s contagious and we both end up laughing with tears rolling down our faces.”

“My favorite date we went on was walking around the tiny botanical gardens in Fort Collins when they had all the Christmas lights up. We sipped on hot chocolate and spent time together just enjoying the holidays, lights, and cold weather to snuggle up in.”

 “One last thing I want to say to Jen: I love you, and you’re the most special person in the world to me! I can’t wait to marry you!”