We’ll be heading out to Western Mass this weekend to celebrate with Sara & Andrew at Quonquont Farm – almost exactly five years to the day we celebrated with Maura & Aidan in the same lovely place. A few weeks ago, in between their move from California to Connecticut, we met up with Sara & Andrew on the North Shore to hangout. We ended up with a beautiful sunset over the harbor in Marblehead. Crossing our fingers for another beautiful day on Sunday. And now, I’ll let Sara & Andrew tell you a bit about how they met.

Andrew: We first met at a beach north of Boston called Phillips Beach. It’s located in the seaside town of Swampscott, where I grew up. We met the summer after we each had graduated from college. I moved-in with my parents while I waited for a sublet in Somerville and Sara moved in with her sister and her family in the town next door, Marblehead. We ended up at Phillips Beach due to our mutual friend Hannah, who’d invited each of us. Andrew went to Middle and High School with Hannah and Sara knew her throuigh college. Now Hannah is toasting us on our wedding day!

Sara: I won’t be redundant since Andrew’s answer covers the details about how we met, so I will instead describe how we reconnected! Due to the complications of life, we went through a really painful breakup in 2012. I would make comments to my mom and sister every once in a while about how much I missed Andrew and thought we should be together; at first they didn’t take me seriously, but they finally urged me to get in contact with him if I felt so strongly. We spoke every once in a while over the next few years, but we were never in the right place at the right time about rekindling our relationship. We both moved away from Boston for graduate school.

On Mother’s Day in 2015, I was with a friend working at a coffee shop in Berkeley (Philz, the best coffee ever!), where I was living for graduate school, and stepped outside to call my mom. All of a sudden Andrew walked by! I gasped loudly and hung up on my mom. Andrew was visiting friends and said that he was on high alert since everywhere he turned that day, he thought he might run into me – and then he actually did! We ended up going for a 3 hour walk, and we both spilled our hearts out. He then left to meet back up with his friends and travel back to MA. About 2 weeks later, I flew to see him – and the rest is history 🙂

Well….I’ll be honest and say that I can still remember the way she looked in her bathing suit. More so, I noticed her easy smile, the way the sun reflected off the water and lit up her eyes, and her playfulness and humor.

One of the first things that drew me to Andrew is his natural ability to take such good care of everybody around him. This manifests itself in many areas of life (including his career as a social worker), but I first noticed his love for hosting other people in his home. Andrew is an amazing cook and always invites people over for dinner. I think that this warmness is very emblematic of his values, and is one of the (many) reasons I can’t imagine spending my life with anybody else.

Andrew: As much as I’m honored that our family and friends will be celebrating with us and witnessing and supporting our vows to each other as partners in marriage, I’m also really excited for the brief moments of intimate togetherness: our vows under the chuppah, our brief yichud afterwards, our first dance, and taking a brief break from the party to watch the sunset. I also really enjoy dancing! 🙂

Sara: When I think about our wedding day, I picture us under the chuppah holding hands, and looking out for the first time to all of our family and friends who have traveled to witness our commitment to each other. I think this will be such a beautiful moment and I get chills just thinking about it.