Hello friends and family,

By now, we hope you all know how excited and happy we are to be tying the knot this spring. We are incredibly grateful and humbled by the love and support everyone has extended our way.

Some of you already know the story (so far) of Colin and Ava, some of you lucky ones were there for parts of it, and we are so happy to include all of you in this next exciting chapter. For those of you who don't know, or to bridge the gaps for others, we met our second semester of our freshman year of college at UW-Madison when Colin sat next to Ava during a lecture for our debate class in the Humanities Building. We truly found love in a hopeless (and horribly designed) place.

With both of us living in Lakeshore dorms, it was natural that we became good friends and spent a lot of time at "social events" together. Our friend group soon became one and the same and the chemistry was definitely there.

College went on and while we didn't live on Lakeshore anymore, we stayed close. Throughout the next few years there were a lot of signs that we were meant to be together, like when we both found ourselves Spring Break-ing just minutes away during our sophomore year (totally unplanned) and created memories together even before we knew how much they would mean.

Junior year started and Colin invited Ava to go to the military ball as his date (reference slide show to see how far we've come since then), and again, we got to make memories that we didn't even realize we would cherish so much. Throughout these years, we had separately been approached by our friends questioning why we didn't take our clear chemistry to a full relationship. Looking back, we aren't really sure why either.

College ended and like many relationships you make in college, ours ebbed. We had both started our full time careers, Colin as a specialty branch recruiter in the Army National Guard and Ava as the Director of Events and Marketing at Breese Stevens Field. We both went through periods of time where we were seeing other people, but we had always kept an eye on each other and watched from a respectful distance. There would be nights where we would run into each other out at a bar and feelings would be brought to the surface, but the timing had never been right for more than a friendly "hello". Every time we saw each other, it was undeniable that there were still unsaid thoughts and I think we both knew that our story had more to it.

Fast forward to the fall of 2019, we hadn't spoken in about two years, but the stars seemed to have finally aligned for us. Both single, and stable in our careers, it started with a simple text from Ava, "Hey, how are you?" We both agreed that when we received those first texts from each other after so long it felt like a dream. I think we both fell asleep smiling that night.

It didn't take long after that for us to meet up and it's felt exactly how we had hoped it would feel - totally and utterly natural. Since then, we have gone on a ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado, sheltered in place during the pandemic (watched a LOT of terrible Netflix shows, ate a shocking amount of coleslaw, went through a phase where we wanted to remodel Colin's rented apartment, etc), supported each other through new jobs, visited Door County with Colin's Family, adventured across Lake Monona and Mendota in a canoe (didn't think we would make it out of that one in 100 degree heat and a thunderstorm on our heals), celebrated so many wonderful things, cried over a few not so great things, but the one constant through this crazy whirlwind has been each other, and the unconditional love and support we have always shown.

When we talked about the possibility of getting married, we realized it wasn't really ever a question with us. We don't know when it happened, whether it was sometime in between episodes of Tiger King, walks to the dog park, cooking dinner together, or playing cribbage out on the balcony in our own little bubble when it seemed like the world was falling apart in 2020, we both knew - "this is my person."

When Colin heard that he was going to be deploying overseas for 11 months, we both realized the best way to support each other through what would undoubtedly be a difficult period of time, was to solidify our commitment to each other. When the opportunity for a micro-wedding presented itself to us, it felt like fate and we decided to apply. In the application we told our story and the voting committee selected us as the couple they wanted to gift this wedding to.

Thanks for visiting and we can't wait to see you on our big day!

• Sheraton Madison Hotel