They say, timing is everything—and that couldn’t be more true for us. Louie and Coley met at the perfect moment. Though we lived hundreds of miles apart—Lou in Cleveland and Nicole in Baltimore—fate (and a little matchmaking from Nicole’s cousins, Amy and David) had other plans for us. We first crossed paths on September 15, 2023, at The 2nd Annual Captain Dave McCarthy Volleyball Classic. Playing on separate teams, we stole a quick 15-minute conversation between matches—both fully aware we were being set up. But as the day ended, we went our separate ways, not knowing if/when we’d talk again. Amy (our Maid of Honor!) convinced her brother, David, to pass along Nicole’s number to Lou—with some not-so-subtle encouragement to reach out to her. After some gentle nudging from his mom, Judy, Lou finally texted Nicole on Friday, October 13, 2023. And from that moment on, the conversation never stopped. If you were to ask Lou, he would say that our conversation and our relationship “took off like wildfire”—a fitting phrase for a fireman/lumberjack 🪓🧑🏼‍🚒. From sunup to sundown, our texts flew back and forth — many of them were so long that our phones had to send the messages as attachments. (Who knew that was even a thing?) And, of course, our nightly record-breaking phone call times quickly became a ritual. Lou was the first to say he wasn’t afraid of the distance—that if our something was worth it, he’d put in the effort to make it work. So that’s what we did:) Our first official date weekend finally rolled around on November 2nd, 2023 when Lou drove to Charm City after a long workweek. We flew down to Atlanta for a Georgia Bulldogs Football Game (see picture below & go Dawgs!) vs. Mizzou (thank you, Brendan Boylan, for the tickets!). We never wanted that weekend to end. From that point forward, we both knew there was something truly special between us and we were committed to making it work. Though there were seemingly countless miles between Cleveland and Baltimore, and we had to spend long weeks apart — somehow, our relationship always felt easy. While timing certainly played its part, it was the consistent effort that has made us inseparable. Fast-forward to August 30, 2024, Lou proposed during a sunrise walk on the beach in Rehoboth, Delaware. By some stroke of luck, we had the entire beach to ourselves in that moment It was absolutely perfect ♥️ On September 19, Nicole packed up her apartment and made the big move from Charm City (Baltimore) to Cleveland, and now, we’re living our happily ever after—together. We are beyond excited for our future and cannot wait to celebrate this next chapter with our closest family and friends on May 30th!