While we both went to UB at the same time for our undergraduate and graduate programs, we never crossed paths on campus. Even further, our best friends, Paul and Lindsey Hallman, were dating, and we still never met! In fact, we wouldn’t meet until Paul and Lindsey got engaged and we were both invited to be part of their wedding party. In October of 2015 at their wedding rehearsal, we met for the first time and were paired to walk down the aisle together. We spent the rest of the wedding together and instantly knew this was special. A few weeks later, we went on our first date to a Sabres game, spent Thanksgiving with each other’s families, and then took a trip to Portugal and Morocco after only knowing each other for two months. A few months later, we rented our first apartment in the Elmwood Village, adopted our cat, and the rest is history.

After nearly 8 years together, we had known for some time that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, so we decided it was probably time to get married. After many trips to the jeweler, a ring was finally picked out and it was up to Tom to get to work on planning an engagement. After making Teresa wait so long, he knew he needed to go all out. Tom took Teresa to Toronto for a weekend away. On Friday, June 16 we drove to a small park, James Garden, which was privately set up with hundreds of candles and roses. Tom proposed just after sunset, surrounded by photos of us and a playlist of our favorite songs. The evening concluded with a midnight celebration in the hotel room with our favorite things – Pizza Hut for Teresa, bourbon for Tom, and each other. Later that weekend, we told our families the exciting news. Besides Teresa's parents, no one knew what Tom had been planning, and everyone else was surprised!

The post-COVID wedding boom is real and has made wedding planning crazy. For us, the only thing that matters is to share this important day with the most important people in our lives. We’d like to say thank you to each and every one of you for your flexibility on short notice. We are so excited to intimately celebrate our marriage with you – our family and dearest friends.