Like all great love stories, ours began in the most obvious place: Up at a cabin for Rachael’s mom’s 50th birthday party. We’d been on a handful of dates when Rachael decided it was the perfect time to invite Alex to spend the weekend at a cabin with her parents and all of their  closest friends.

Alex, without hesitation (or questions), said yes. A few hours in, he was already handling a steady stream of friendly-but-blunt interrogations from the group—and somehow held his own. To everyone’s surprise, he fit in immediately. Everything just worked.

So on the drive home, after hearing him called Rachael’s “boyfriend” all weekend, we finally just said, “Alright… I guess that’s what we’re doing.”

Since then, we’ve spent six years building a life that feels easy in all the best ways. We quickly realized we loved the same things: exploring our cities, trying new restaurants, spending time with the people we love, and sharing a low-key night at home with a good movie and carefully curated snacks.

In 2022, we moved into our first apartment in Northeast Minneapolis. Aside from Rachael needing to improve her vacuuming skills and Alex being forced to part with a few pairs of shoes to make room for Rachael’s stuff, the transition was surprisingly seamless.

At the beginning of 2025, we took our next big step and bought our first house together—fun fact: we signed the papers the same day we got engaged! Since then, we’ve been slowly shaping it into a home that feels like “us,” one project, paint sample, and argument over where to put the lego collection at a time. 

And now, we’re so excited for our next chapter: marriage!