Lodge at St Edwards Wedding

I knew that Christina & Frank would be amazing to work with the moment they logged on to our Zoom consultation.

They had apparently done a Harry Potter (!!!!!) trivia night the night before, and they’re username made them very obvious Potter fans.

Always.

And… as if they couldn’t get cooler – their engagement story comes straight out of some MCU love. **faints**

I always find that these things are better told by the couple … so in their own words:

How did the two of you meet?

We met online through Hinge – “the dating app designed to be deleted” — in the Fall of 2019. Since the app asks its users to answer questions about themselves, Frank and Christina thought it would be fun mimic that style to tell the story of their relationship from first date through engagement.

What did you do for your first date?

Frank asked Christina to meet for brunch, and Christina suggested a spot neither of them had been to before. We both thought each other was a bit awkward as we waited for our table, but the conversation started flowing over food. We then extended the date for a walk on a nearby trail and made plans for a second date the following weekend.

What made your second date so special for each of you?

After our first date, we wanted to go hiking that next weekend and meet each others’ dogs. Because of heavy rain, we ended up changing our plans and instead went to church, played board games, and made dinner together. It was after our second date that we both started trying to spend as much time as we could with each other. Most of what we did through the fall and winter weekends was ski/hike/snowshoe (with the dogs when possible), ending the day by cooking together and play board games in the evenings. Our biggest challenge in our first few months of dating was that both of us had busy travel schedules, so we kept in touch through email too.

How did the pandemic affect your relationship?

For the pandemic, we ended up becoming almost coworkers with Frank working from Christina’s condo; in some ways, it gave us the chance to get a glimpse into one another’s work lives.

Outside of work we spent even more time together as each other’s “quarantine partner.” The pandemic gave us an opportunity to spend more time together doing the activities we enjoyed (cooking, board games, exploring the outdoors, playing with the dogs) and in the summer, we took the opportunity to travel home to meet each other’s families.

When did you two know you wanted to get married?

Early on in our relationship, we talked about how our end-goal with dating was to find a life partner. We talked to each other often about our families and what we wanted for our future. Then, with the pandemic, we got to spend a lot more time with each other than we would have in “normal” times. Frank says he knew two weeks into quarantine, and Christina came around after spending time with both their families over the summer.

How did the proposal happen?

Frank created a scavenger hunt with 13 clues, which played out over the course of a week and ended with him proposing at Idylwood Park (nearby where Christina lived at the time).

The proposal started with an Avengers puzzle where the Mjölnir (Thor’s hammer) pieces were missing. Frank told Christina she’d have to find some clues to the missing puzzle pieces. The clues featured a variety of things Frank knew Christina loved (Harry Potter, kayaking), their relationship so far (love of dogs, board games, shared faith), and memories they’ve made so far (cooking, especially Easter ham). Frank hid these clues around his home, Christina’s condo, and some places they travelled together during the week.

At the end of the hunt, the missing pieces were inside a Thor’s Hammer (Mulmir) ring box which was hidden inside Christina’s tool bag. Then Christina & Frank walked to the then-nearby Idlywood Park and Frank got down on one knee next to the water… in heavier-than-normal rain.

Is there a special reason you chose the venues – Saint Theresa of Calcutta and The Lodge at St Edwards?

The ceremony is the first church Frank & Christina called “home” together as a couple. At one of the first masses they attended together, the priest at the time named Father Frank (he unfortunately won’t be presiding over the ceremony) joked that so far in the pandemic we had seen everything that was a part of the Egyptian plague “except the frogs.”

The reception is our “version 2” venue (originally at another local venue). In hindsight, we love this more for the nature aspects (Frank especially loves hiking) and tie in to our religious upbringing (the venue used to be a seminary).

Are there any other special things about your Lodge at St Edwards wedding?

We’ve loosely based our wedding off of the woods/natural elements of PNW. Given Frank’s family is from Georgia, we knew an outdoor wedding in October was out of the question… so we went for something that was a mix of PNW nature vibes and more traditional wedding elements.

Our wedding date (October 16th, 2021) also falls on what Christina & Frank are calling “anniversary week.” We got engaged on October 18th, 2020 and started dating October 13th, 2019.