In hindsight, it sure feels fateful that Erin and Andrew met for the first time in their favorite room at the University of Notre Dame — the quirky, cozy radio station “boardroom,” a second on-campus home of sorts that fostered friendships and community, where students could spin records, do homework, and squeeze in pre-class naps. It was a near-immediate but initially casual connection, as being two grades apart kept them on different tracks for the years to come. Andrew studied abroad in London — Erin enrolled in the same program and Andrew sent playlists and recommendations, keeping their long-distance friendship alive with talk of music and shared experience (and soup). They took any rare chance to spend time together in person, as Erin was occasionally able to make the trip from Cincinnati to Andrew’s temporary home of Columbus when school and work allowed. Years passed and they settled into post-college life, Andrew in Los Angeles and Erin in Chicago. Talk of a trip to finally meet up in the Pacific Northwest got real — days before the pandemic got even realer, putting those plans on hold. But it soon became clear that the spark was not going away — frequent texts turned to virtual movie nights and video calls, and eventually Andrew looped his roommates into Erin’s famous Zoom karaoke nights, singing love songs to each other across the country. They hunkered down at each other’s apartments for months at a time, with Erin fostering their now-beloved dog Iris for additional company during quarantine. It quickly became clear that they could not live without each other, and the day after Iris’ official adoption, everyone was off to California and their new apartment overlooking Hollywood and the Santa Monica mountains. Now they attend concerts together nearly every week, frequent their neighborhood wine bar Tabula Rasa with Iris in-tow, and host many a theme party to entertain their expansive community of friends in LA. They are so excited to celebrate their love and begin another storybook chapter in Erin’s childhood stomping grounds this summer with so many cherished friends and family!