Kimberly and Joe met for their first date in November 2013 at the Cherry Cricket after finding each other on an internet dating site.  (They met on the internet the old-fashioned way—there was no swiping left or right back then—you had to actually send people a message!)  Joe’s profile was characteristically brief, so Kimberly had no idea what to expect, but she knew that she really liked his beard.  The first date went swimmingly—they talked about travel and upcoming vacations, a mutually shared love of NPR and This American Life, and the weird things that runners do at races.  Toward the end of the date, Joe pointed out that they had already met before.  At first, warning bells went off in Kimberly’s head that this dude might be crazy, but then he exclaimed that they actually had met about three weeks prior on a running trail in front of a port-a-potty.  (Can a meet-cute happen in front of pot-a-potty?  Apparently it can.)  Since they really had met and had people in common, the warning bells shut themselves down for Kimberly.  The date went so well that they decided to do it again, even though Joe didn’t even pay for Kimberly’s club soda. 

The relationship continued to progress as they figured out that they liked to do the same slightly weird activities together.  For example, Kimberly took Joe to an Ira Glass hybrid radio-dance performance at the Denver Center and they both LOVED IT.  (Upon reflection, this may have been kind of a test.)  They also went on dates to history museums, comedy clubs, breweries, and other fun Colorado stuff.  The most important test was when Joe met Klaus Von Dangerkitten (who is a cat that is the size of three cats.)  Klaus has superior taste in humans and it was important to Kimberly that Joe and Klaus could coexist peacefully.  Prior to Klaus, Joe was decidedly NOT a cat person.  Spoiler alert: Joe and Klaus fell for each other hard and now have an intensely satisfying bromance where they both eat meat together and don’t talk.  Klaus thinks that Joe is the best male human he has ever encountered and he much prefers having four hands to pet him over just two hands. 

Since Klaus had given his blessing and Kimberly and Joe were tired of paying for two different internet lines, they decided to buy a house together in Spring 2015 (the height of the crazy Denver housing market.)  Even though it was only about three months, it felt like it took forever to find our awesome midcentury modern house in central Denver.  Buying this house proved to be a rather excellent decision because a) this house had a hot tub and b) it gave Joe so many great house projects work on with his power tools.  Klaus also gave his full approval of the house after a thorough exploration to determine that no monsters lived there.  Kimberly also was able to purchase to her heart's content a number of new throw pillows. With their cat and their single internet line (fast fiber, of course) living together was a distinct  quality of life improvement. 

Since living together was going so well, the couple decided it was time to think about their next commitment—a jet ski.  Nope, that’s not right.  Marriage—that’s the next commitment.  In May 2016, Joe and Kimberly took a glorious vacation to Paris, which was filled with crepes, art, wine, and pictures painted by famous people.  One evening, after touring the castles of the Loire Valley, they went out to a late dinner at a local Breton creperie.  As Kimberly was pouring a bottle of cider (because that’s how they do it in Brittany), Joe plunks a ring down in the middle of the table and says “This is our 30 month anniversary and I think we should get married.  I love you a lot and I want you to be my wife.”   Tears of joy and shock ensured and Kimberly answered with a resounding “Alrighty” because she wasn’t that good with words at that moment and she was super surprised. It was one of the only times in their relationship where she had an actual lack of words.  The ring was the finest cubic zirconium one can buy at Claire’s  Accessories because Joe is so romantically practical that he didn’t want to bring the actual ring (a 1930’s yellow gold solitaire from his grandmother) on an international vacation and accidentally have one of them lose it.  (This was a brilliant choice by Joe because on that trip, they lost collectively: iPhone (twice, but found it twice), Fitbit, International Driver’s license, 40 euro, and probably some other stuff.)  Kimberly says the engagement day was the absolute best day of 2016 (with the day they saw Hamilton being a close second.)

So that brings us all to the wedding.  Joe and Kimberly can’t wait to be married in front of all of their favorite people and then feed them amazing tacos and Colorado beer afterward.  We hope that you can make it!