#Cushman2023

The day has come and past! Thank you for taking time to come check out the after-wedding website! Please feel free to look around and see what we have written and would like to share with you all. We were excited to share our wedding day with those we could; for all those that couldn't its OK! We'll be sharing photos + a video of the day. And once again, THANK YOU to all those who supported us!!

Justin says; "The day was as perfect as we could have planned. There were some things that we didn't have but that didn't change how the day went. People showed up with good time and the weather was one of the last warm days of fall. The day felt like a lucid dream - the day went incredibly quick and before I knew it the night was ending and my shirt was off on the dance floor. We spent the night at a nearby honeymoon suite hotel room. Returned home, packed on Saturday and left for the Pocono Mountains in PA on Sunday. We spent a week there, with our own condominium. I had promised Ariel she would get nature for the wedding, and as a consolation prize we filled the honeymoon with adventure and nature hikes. It has been a great start to seemingly a wonderful marriage." Ariel says; TBD

"The proposal happened on Ariel's mom's 50th birthday vacation to the Boston area. When planning the trip to Boston I had planned out a couple different times and places I thought I would be able to propose and it ended up being right near the end of the vacation. We had just eaten dinner at a Seafood Restaurant (Fins) and afterwards I pushed for us to go over to the dock/pier, where I convinced Ariel to hop up on the rock for some pictures. When she finally noticed me I was already down with the ring out awaiting her answer. She didn't believe it was real at first but eventually, she said Duh :)" -Justin- “I was on a 2-day vacation with my family that August; we went to Massachusetts, to celebrate my mom’s 50th birthday that had just happened in June. The first day was Boston because my mom LOVES marine life and the second day was Salem because it's full of history, magic and wonder, and that’s what my family is all about, stemming from my witchy mom! I was semi sad on the last day of the vacation; we were having so much fun, and visited so many places, that I didn't want it to end. We planned to go to ‘Fins’ for dinner on the last day; a nice seafood restaurant we found that we thought would be a good end to the vacation. Once we finished eating, Justin suggested we go to the water because it was sunset and it would look so cool. So we walked over to the pier area, and he convinced me to stand on some large stones we found. He’s always adventurous so I thought ‘Why not?’ and BOOM! Proposed!.....and the vacation did indeed end very nicely” -Ariel-

"When I graduated MCC, Ariel was massively supportive of my career goals. On the day of my interview with Optimax, she prepared a little note with some snacks and an overall cute little gift to wish me luck. The confidence she gave me surely helped in the process because I've been working at Optimax since. Having someone as supportive as her along the way has been huge in my overall development and I couldn't ask for anyone else - she rocks!" -Justin- "I met Justin when I was figuring out my life. Going through all my social work schooling, working 3 jobs at the same time, and trying to maintain a working relationship was a juggling act I tried hard to manage. But Justin was always there, giving me rides to classes and making sure I had someone who was there for me, through anything. He helped me with everything from essay writing to planning events for my RA position. Because of him, I made it through the struggles, and we are stronger than ever, continuing to head towards our future!” -Ariel-

One date we planned pretty early on was an entirely spontaneous event. We met up at MCC and walked around the pond/dorms in the middle of winter. Justin suggested that we should walk out on the frozen pond behind Ariel's dorm, but Ariel was extremely fearful of falling in. Once convinced (cause Justin's very convincing), we found ourselves out in the middle of the ice pond. Looking up at the moon and stars, the sound was deafened around us by the blanket of snow covering the ice. This would be the first of many risks we got to take together as a couple. Once we were freezing, we ran back to the Lincoln Towncar and tried our best to warm up. At this moment, Justin took initiative, and began their journey by asking Ariel to be his partner in crime.

We weren't too sure how the first date would go - we decided to meet up at the Starbucks in Henrietta. Justin picked up Ariel from her dorm, in a 1992 Lincoln Towncar, and we ordered drinks for one another. While we chatted to get to know each other, Justin would learn how much of a geek Ariel was, and Ariel got to see how funny Justin is; we shared music interests and ended up sitting in the car just getting lost in conversation. When dropping her back off at the Dorms, Justin attempted a kiss and was shocked (literally) when our lips touched. We both went home happy and giddy :)

We met at an MCC club event on Halloween, held at "Bowl-A-Roll lanes" on Jefferson Road. Ariel was dressed as Alice in Wonderland and Justin was Slenderman. Although we didn't get to talk much at the Bowling ally, we got to chat when everyone met up at Denny's later that night. At that moment, we didn't know what we were going to become.