The first thing that Sophia did after moving to Richmond, VA was drive up to DC for a girl’s night with the only person she knew on the east coast, Aimee. That same night, Tom also happened to be there milling about. With Tom and Harland (best man) crashing their party, the weekend took an unexpected turn. Sophia found herself in a Baltimore bar, the Tysons mall, and the Holocaust museum all three days, not in that order. What seemed like an unforgettable weekend would become an unforgettable love, but they wouldn’t figure that out for months.

After that whirlwind weekend, Sophia returned to Richmond to achieve the only dream she’s ever really had - adopt a puppy, which many of you now know as Ripley. As her and Ripley lived their best lives, there was something mysterious that kept bringing her back to DC on occasional weekends. Scientists have now deemed that mysterious force as Tom’s dashing good looks and terrible jokes. Eventually, Tom invited Sophia on a trip Amsterdam with a few people she barely knew and a bunch of people she straight up didn’t know. It turned out to be the best Amsterdam trip of her life…because they ended up in Mexico.

From that trip on, Tom no longer had nice things. Hurricane Ripley would pop by every weekend to eat everything in Tom’s life from contacts to shoes. Fiscally, all of Tom’s nice things went to a fund for Sophia’s nice things. It didn’t matter though because they became inseparable. Tom opened Sophia’s eyes to the world of Griz and fantasy football, and Sophia tested Tom’s love for her with endless hikes across states, countries, and continents. In 2018, Sophia got tired of putting miles on her car and moved to DC, not knowing she was moving into complete and absolute chaos. Four years, a pandemic, jokes about getting a second dog, and getting a second dog later, they eventually took the trip that would cement their future. There is little that surprised Sophia less than the sunset proposal in Portugal as she feigned surprise in front of their “random bystander photographer, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. With that elaborate backstory in mind, we welcome you to our wedding.