We met in 2001 during our freshman year at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. It was not love at first sight. As our friends can tell you, we did not get along. Things started to improve in college when, through shared interests and shared friends, our friendship started to develop. On Tommy's 25th birthday, his parents set up a trip for two to New York City to see a show and take in the sights. Since he was currently single (and ready to mingle), they asked him who he would have the best time with on this trip and he said Louis. This trip marked a change in our friendship and we became travel buddies from that point on. From enemies to frenemies to friends to a couple, our friends always said we were destined to be together, and in 2014 on a trip to Key West we proved them right.

Although we were dating, marriage wasn't on the horizon until on June 27, 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. This was a huge moment in both of our lives! It opened the door to many conversations about proposals and engagements because now our marriage was possible. It was during one of these conversations that Louis told Tommy he would propose when he took him out of the country for the first time. (Super romantic, I know!) Over the next few years of dating, moving in together, and settling into our relationship - to quote Lord of the Rings: "some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the [details of the engagement] passed out of all knowledge.” (This is our really REALLY nerdy way of saying we never talked about the engagement again and Tommy forgot all about Louis' promise to propose on our first international trip. If you get the Lord of the Rings reference, you're awesome. If not, just roll with it.)

In November 2017, we took a cruise to Central America along with our amazing friends Yolanda and Randy. It was Tommy's first time out of the country. On the second night at sea, the four of us got dressed up for the captain's dinner. When we were finished, Louis suggested that we have an impromptu photoshoot around the ship. (Why waste a great outfit, right?) Secretly this was all part of the plan that Louis and Yolanda had developed for the proposal:

1) Louis would suggest that they take a stroll on deck after dinner.

2) Once the perfect spot for the proposal could be identified, Yolanda would suggest we take pictures since we were all dressed up.

3) Yolanda would make Tommy check if he liked how he looked in the photo.

4) Once we knew Tommy liked the way his hair looked, Louis would say let's take one more.

5) Yolanda would begin filming and Louis would propose.

It was super romantic and a bit surreal - kind of like being in a movie.

After Louis' proposal, Tommy knew that he needed to figure out a way to propose that would match that level of thought and romance. After many months of wracking his brain, the perfect opportunity presented itself. We were in the process of planning locations for our engagement photo shoot and the Supreme Court was brought up as one of the options. Tommy had a "light bulb" moment and knew that was the place that he wanted to propose. This location marked such an important moment in their lives that it was the perfect place to bring everything full circle. He immediately called up Brad, their photographer, and filled him on the plan. Brad was an awesome planning buddy! He helped Tommy work out the logistics of how to navigate the proposal during the photoshoot without Louis figuring out something suspicious was going on - Louis is extremely hard to surprise and Tommy is a bad liar. The game plan was:

1) Convince Louis that the Supreme Court photos should be the first ones taken because Tommy was not going to make it very long with the ring burning a hole in his pocket.

2) During the photoshoot, Brad would lead us through various poses and locations around the Court.

3) Brad and Tommy came up with the code word "pizza" to indicate that Brad was positioned and ready to take the proposal photos. Louis is a very food-motivated person and chimed right in about how he would love to get pizza after the shoot.

4) While Louis was still daydreaming about the pizza, Tommy launched into his speech and proposed to Louis on the courthouse steps.

A large group of tourists appeared out of nowhere and cheered as Tommy got down on one knee. It was a little awkward but really made the moment special. It was pretty romantic and worked out perfectly. Louis had no idea!

This wedding has been a long time in the making - 17 years, 3 apartments, and 2 Supreme Court justices to be exact. We couldn't be more thrilled to share it with all of you!