We can’t wait to have everyone together.

Our story begins all the way back in 2009 during our freshman year of high school. The two of us met at a football game and struck up a conversation about Maggie’s favorite topic… FOOD. Our friendship quickly blossomed as we landed in the same friend group thanks to Maggie’s field hockey friends (shoutout Molly Nugent), who I knew from grade school. We spent plenty of time together as our group of friends became closer. Countless hours spent at Hyde Park square, McDonald Commons, Ault Park, friends’ houses, Ramundo’s, Skyline, summer concerts, and anywhere else you’d find a bunch of high school kids in Cincinnati. We started to spend more one-on-one time during our sophomore year. I got my license in August of 2010, and quickly realized that my best avenue to spend more time with Maggie was to offer rides anytime our group of friends was hanging out. This meant frequently driving 15 minutes out of the way just to get that extra time with Maggie. As everyone who meets Maggie knows, her spirit and enthusiasm for life are quite contagious. Although I was the one more interested in turning the friendship into a relationship, Maggie made the first step by inviting me to St. Ursula’s winter dance in December of 2010. I knew I liked Maggie as more than a friend shortly thereafter, but it took a little longer for her to come around. We officially started dating on December 27, 2011. I asked Maggie to be my girlfriend in the “playroom,” my childhood TV room and hangout spot on the third floor of my parents’ Observatory Avenue home. A room I’ve probably spent more time in than any other place. I still remember where we were standing and the feeling of butterflies as I asked my best friend to become a little something more. Thankfully, she had come around to the idea of us being together and ever since, Maggie has been my date to every dance, prom, formal, date party, wedding, movie, and of course, thousands of dinners.

That’s easily one of the best things about our relationship. We’ve been able to experience so much of each other’s lives and truly grow up together. Although Maggie never met my brother John, she was the first person I was able to open up to about my feelings following his passing in 2009. No conversation was ever off limits with Maggie, and the conversations never stopped. Whether it was over text, Facebook, on the phone, or in person, Maggie and I were always talking. I distinctly remember one week when Maggie was on vacation with her family in Michigan and we agreed to take the week off from texting to see if we could do it. I lasted until about Thursday and had to reach out. As I hit send, a message from Maggie arrived simultaneously. We had cracked. We couldn’t last a week without talking to each other and reached out at the exact same time! One of life’s signs that we were truly in sync. Our relationship continued to grow as we entered Miami University together as freshmen in 2013. With Maggie and her roommate (shoutout Marybeth) just right across the street from my dorm, spending quality time together was easy, highlighting another great aspect of our relationship. Everything is easy with Maggie. While hundreds of moments stand out from a wonderful college experience, meeting up with Maggie in Copenhagen at the end of her study abroad trip in the summer of 2015 definitely stands out. After a few days in Copenhagen, we continued through the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy together for 10 days during the biggest heat wave Europe had seen in a century. For most people the heat would’ve soured the trip, but Maggie’s positivity and optimism never let us have a bad day.

We graduated from Miami in May of 2017 and Maggie moved to Chicago shortly after for work while I remained in Cincinnati. A few months without Maggie made me quickly realize that was not how I wanted to live, so I squeezed my way into an apartment with some college friends in October of that year, working part time from the apartment as an independent contractor hoping to make my dream of working in the sports industry a reality. It turns out that $1,200 per month doesn’t go very far in Chicago, leading to my eventual departure to Cleveland nine months later. Luckily, thanks to Delta flight privileges and remote work capabilities, I was able to travel back to Chicago quite frequently and spend extended weekends and even full weeks with Maggie and Abe’s Babes (shoutout Allison, Annie, Maddie, and Laura). On one of our walks down to the lake one evening, Maggie surprised me by unzipping a hoodie to reveal a Cleveland Cavaliers shirt and said, “Guess what? I’m movin’ to Cleveland!!” The two of us were apart for about one year before Maggie arrived in Cleveland. She was able to move into a house in Ohio City thanks to her gracious and great friend Allie, leaving us just a few miles away from each other as I resided downtown on East 4th St. Those 2 miles shortly turned into 2 houses, as the arrival of the pandemic altered my living situation downtown and led me to rent the first floor of a duplex two doors down from Maggie & Allie. About a month before, however, Maggie and I took a trip to London to visit my sister Mary. While in London, we were also able to spend some time with some of our longtime friends Erica, Molly, and Chloe, as well as Maggie’s cousin Matt. It was an amazing week abroad with family and friends, highlighting how special our relationship was that we were 25 years old and hanging in another country with friends we had both known and loved for at least a decade.

At the end of the trip, Maggie took a train from London to Paris with Erica, Molly, and Chloe, leaving me to my thoughts as I departed on the 7-hour flight back to Ohio. The altitude might’ve gotten to my head ever so slightly (or offered a moment of elucidation), as it became apparent on the flight home that I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Maggie. I arrived back in Cleveland on March 3, 2020 determined to make it happen, but as it did with everyone, the COVID pandemic messed with our timeline about a week later. Watching how the pandemic affected so many of our friends’ and family members’ engagement and wedding plans, it made sense to hold off on my own engagement ideas until I knew we could celebrate how we wanted to with family and friends. Fast forward to June of 2021. After a few months of planning behind her back with her family and mine, everything fell perfectly into place on Father’s Day weekend, just as it seemed to for the last nine and a half years. Our siblings adjusted their work schedules and flew in from Michigan, New York, and London to celebrate on Monday, June 21st. I told Maggie we were going to The Precinct for an early birthday dinner while we were in town. We had the first reservation possible — the early bird special — at 4:30 ET and I told Maggie I’d pick her up at 3:45. Luckily, Maggie’s go-with-the-flow personality doesn’t lead her to ask many questions, she’s just happy to go anywhere, especially somewhere where she’s promised food. I arrived 45 minutes before our reservation despite it only being a 15-minute drive from her parents’. On the way to dinner, I astutely pointed out that we were going to be early and asked if she wanted to stop at one of our favorite parks and date spots right off of Delta called Lars Anderson Park on Golden St. She said yes, and then yes again about 10 minutes later once I popped the question. Then she asked, “Are we still going to dinner?!?” Yes, Maggie. We’re still going to dinner.

And what a great dinner it was. I was able to unveil my several months of planning and shared that her siblings had not flown out of Cincy that night like she thought, but were instead at my parents’ house waiting for us to celebrate with the rest of our immediate families. That evening was a beautiful culmination of our nearly 10 years of dating and 12 years of friendship. We sat around the table with our family telling stories and reminiscing, shared laughs and tears over FaceTime with scattered friends, and witnessed the beginning of two families becoming one. The following days were unlike any we’ve experienced as we felt the love and support from hundreds of friends. We’ve been so lucky to have a relationship created and reinforced by our friends and family, who have taught us about love and life since 2009, and we can’t wait to celebrate with all of you on August 13, 2022. Danke for reading, Mark & Maggie