Mackenzie & Andrew
We’re Getting Married!
MackenzieLane
&AndrewHaling
November42023
East Haddam, CT
Our Story
How We Met
Andrew and I met when we were seniors at Johns Hopkins University. It was the first week of the fall semester, and I was hanging out in my friend's apartment, the top-floor unit in the house of our school's all-male a cappella group, The AllNighters. Andrew's apartment just happened to be the one directly below. That night, Andrew and his friends stopped by to post-game — or, in other words, to wind down an evening of drinking with even more drinking. (FYI these aren't the best conditions to meet your future spouse. Would not recommend if you're looking for a romantic meet-cute to write on your wedding website.)
I don't remember much about that night aside from two things: (1) Andrew kept interrupting a story I was trying to tell to talk to my friend about video games and (2) Andrew was really cute in this shaggy brown-haired, neon frat tank-wearing, self-assured kind of way. It was for the latter reason that I kept finding reasons to bump into him, which was actually pretty easy since he lived in the same building as my friend. Andrew, oblivious to my subtle attempts to get his attention, finally got the hint when my friend pulled him aside one evening and told him, without paraphrasing: "Dude, Kenzie is into you." Then, one fateful night at The Get Down, Baltimore's seedy, now-permanently-closed nightclub, Andrew and I shared our first kiss. It was Columbus Day Weekend 2014. Things would never be the same.
Andrew and I casually dated throughout our senior year, but with graduation looming over us, we knew our relationship had an expiration date. And, so, we kept our guard up when it came to our feelings for one another. I still remember this one night — it was sometime in the winter — when we were in my room listening to "Sleep Forever" by Portugal the Man (it's a good song). My head was resting against his chest, and I felt so at peace, and I thought to myself how good this felt. How good it felt to be with him. And then I felt a little sad because I didn't know if I would ever feel this way about someone again.
The day we graduated was the last day I thought I would see Andrew. A few weeks later, I texted him wishing him luck on his first day of work.
And we've texted everyday since.
After dating long-distance between Orange County and Boston, then a little less long-distance between Orange County and Los Angeles, then slightly more long-distance between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, we finally began building a home and life together in San Francisco. It took around three years to finally be in the same place, but it was worth it.
Over the course of our relationship, we have gone through some of the most beautiful, challenging, and eye-opening experiences together. Traveled to eight countries. Supported each other through career and life changes. Lived for three months in COVID quarantine in a studio apartment and didn't manage to get sick of one another. Endured the loss of my father, and for that, I could never be more grateful to have Andrew by my side. Three years after moving in together, Andrew got down on one knee on a cliffside in the Douro Valley of Portugal, and asked me to marry him.
That's that. That's how it happened.
That's our love story.
The Proposal
It was the happiest day. A boat ride down the magical Douro River. Sipping 60 year-old port overlooking a valley split by a ribbon of glistening, blue water and fringed with lush, green terraces. A delicious three-course lunch with a wine pairing and waterfront view. A tour of a winery during harvest season capped off with a wine tasting. And a surprise cliff-side proposal at sunset.
Andrew reached out to every tour operator in the Douro Valley a few weeks before our trip to Portugal until he found the one I had booked our tour through. He proceeded to plan a whole damn wedding proposal with them from start to finish, including a stunning viewpoint, flowers, champagne, and professional photographers to capture one of the most important moments of our lives. We both knew what my answer would be going into this, but I don't think I could have anticipated the beyond beautiful proposal he had in store.