Ben and Lindsay first met on a Connecticut College orientation backpacking trip. Of all the poeple you meet in college, they were each one of the first people the other met, and were thrown right into a week of camping tents, hiking boots, and freeze-dried food. Having never backpacked in her life, Lindsay seriously thought she might die during the trip. Thankfully, both she and Ben survived. Who could have know this one adventure would be laying the foundation for so many more to come?
While Lindsay and Ben ran in different circles during college, they remained friendly acquaintences throughout freshman and sophomore year – even living in the same dorm sophomore year. Lindsay remembers visiting Ben’s room for movie-watching parties. Ben doesn’t quite remember Lindsay being there… but he’s sure she was and that they had a great time!
For their fall semester of junior year, Lindsay and Ben ended up on the same study abroad program in Cape Town, South Africa, where they lived together, traveled, partied, and pretended to study for five months. (Lindsay actually did study…) Lindsay, a shoe-in for the program and close friend of the program’s leading professor, may have helped Ben get into the program by sneaking a look at the applicant list, noticing Ben’s name, and putting in a good word. Ben and Lindsay’s acquaintence turned into a fast friendship over these amazing months away from home.
With so many friends studying abroad during the same semester, there was no way Ben was returning home without dropping in on some of them first. He pitched an around-the-world ticket trip to the entire group of abroad students. Only one taker: Lindsay. And so the next journey began together to Florence, Beijing and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Lindsay and Ben remained friends for the remainder of college, but parted ways upon graduation. Ben stayed in the New London area for two years before moving to Manhattan. Lindsay found her way to the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They probably would have stayed in touch, but they don’t have phones that deep in Wyoming… Ben’s sure of this.
Living in a town without phones lost its appeal. Looking for a change, Lindsay left the mountains and also made her way to Manhattan. It was the vague recollection of hearing that Ben had moved there coupled with a few emails, a text or two, and randomly ending up in a bar with her cousin in Ben’s neighborhood that led to a late night of drinks, reminiscing, and just a spark or two.
By the way – the bar was called American Trash. And it truly is. We have no idea how or why we ended up there. But we’re glad we did.
Lindsay and Ben officially started dating, became a couple, and excitedly told all their friends… to which they all replied, “Yeah, we’ve known for about a year now – glad you two caught on.” So the sparks flew quickly. Lindsay moved into an apartment in Ben’s neighborhood, and the two never lived more than 10 blocks away the entire time they lived in Manhattan.
The couple decided that it no longer made any sense living in two separate apartments, and that they would move in together. So they did. They once again broke out the camping tent, loaded up the car and hit the road. Putting New Orleans, Houston, Austin, Albuquerque, Denver, Jackson Hole, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and as many national parks as they could find behind them, 27 days and 6000+ miles later Lindsay and Ben found a new home in Santa Monica, CA. Having not killed each other along the way, the two realized their now five-ish-year relationship could possibly be a long-term thing. In Californina, Lindsay planned for the future by attending business school at UCLA Anderson, while Ben lived the dream of pretenting to make movies.
On the first morning of a Caribbean Cruise, Ben carefully removed a ring from his pocket and made sure not to nervously drop it overboard as he prepared to propose to Lindsay. Lindsay was completely oblivious to Ben’s plans, but psyched that he insisted on ordering some bubbly with their room service breakfast. Nonetheless Ben succeeded in surprising Lindsay with the question, and will be forever thrilled she said yes and prevented a very awkward cruise.
Having traveled together to Grand Cayman numerous times with friends and family, we are excited to have you all join us once again on the island to celebrate our wedding. To us it truly is paradise, and there’s no one we’d rather share paradise with than all of you. See you there!