Cory
and
Nathaniel
Please join us for our wedding celebration on
Our story from both points of view
Nate's side of the story. ..
Cory and Nathaniel (from this point forward, Nate) met on January 24, 2019, in San Pedro Belize. After attending a meeting, we went with a group to dinner. I had mentioned that a group of us were planning an international conference the following year, to which Cory said she wanted to participate, and we swapped contact info. What I didn’t know at the time was she couldn’t care less about the conference; she just wanted my number I wasn’t in a place at that time for relationships and wasn’t even paying attention to her advances until later. After dinner we headed over to Saul’s cigar shop. Once I had finished my cigar, I said I was taking off and that it has been nice to meet her. No sooner had I gotten out the door, that Cory messaged me to say, “thanks for offering me a ride home.” Still being a little confused by what was really going on, I said I would come back and get her, only to arrive and find out her DAD had picked her up. RED ALERT RED ALERT!! After some very necessary jokes, we realized that Cory’s trip was coming to an end, and I was heading to Guatemala for a few days. I figured it was most likely for the best, but Cory has a different idea. She extended her trip another week just to be there when I got back from Guatemala, and the night before she left, we met up for another meeting, dinner, and just spent some time getting to know each other better. This would start a friendship that we cultivated until we met again back in Belize in October of that year. So, 10 months later, after building a friendship through texts, calls, and messages, on two different coasts, while back in Belize, we decided to try a “long distance” relationship. Little did I know within the next couple of months, Cory was making plans to move to Washington. We decided that she would ship her stuff to Washington, we would meet up in March of 2020 to put on that international conference, and then when we got back to Washington, she would find a place to live, and we would try to have what most people call a normal “dating” relationship. Then there was that whole COVID-19 thing. There was no international conference, and we were stuck in Belize thanks to a countrywide lockdown. We literally had to take a repatriation flight back to the US, where we found most of the country also in lockdown. There would be no looking for apartments or houses. None were available, and no one was doing any showings. After a few months, and a slow trickle into the house of more and more of Cory’s belongings, we realized that we moved right from long distance relationship to “normal” dating relationship, to living together. During a worldwide pandemic, where you spend 24 hours a day with another person, in confined spaces, with little to no interaction with other people, many relationships suffered. For Cory and I, it was the perfect environment to build a beautiful relationship together. We started hiking all over Washington, camping, taking trips to state and National Parks. Nearly every moment of every day since March 1, 2020 has been spent with us together and I realized that I wanted to make that a more permanent arrangement. In July of 2021, I asked Cory’s parents for permission to ask her to marry me, to which they said yes. At the time, we were already celebrating Cory’s cousin Kelly’s engagement, and her sister Bethany’s engagement, and my daughter Grayson’s fast approaching wedding. I said that I wanted to give each one of these women their time to shine, including Cory. On October 3, 2021, approximately 20 hours after Grayson’s wedding, I asked Cory to marry me at Pinnacle Peak, in Mt. Rainer National Park. And just think—this is just the beginning….
Cory's side of the story...
One night, while vacationing with my parents, I decided to catch a meeting. There were some other tourists in the meeting which was usually normal but I knew this one was different. He was funny, outgoing, loud and had these dreamy blue eyes. I was like yea, I wanna get to know this guy. So we went to dinner and then to Sauls for coffee and cigars after. I made several advances but apparently I just wasn’t getting through. Nate left Saul’s. I text him and said thanks for the offer of a ride home(even though he didn’t offer). I had no idea my Dad was already on his way to come pick me up at Saul’s because his adult 30 something year old daughter was incapable of walking back to the condo…(insert eyeroll). Anyway God must not have wanted that night encounter to happen so it didn’t. Nate was heading to Guatemala and I was heading back to -14 degree days in good old Erie, Pa. So I reached out to a good friend at United and changed my flight for another week. I mean why not. I was quitting my job anyways they weren’t going to miss me and I could see Nate before he left. So We got to hang out one more night before we both left and it was really nice. I moved to Raleigh after that trip and Nate and I stayed in touch, building a friendship over the phone and across the US. I think we connected on the phone every single day until we first were reunited in Washington DC and then back in Belize in Oct of 2019. On that trip we decided we would try a long distant relationship and flew back and forth a couple times. I decided I would move to WA really to give this whole thing a real chance even though Nate loved the space between hahaha. We met back down in Belize in March and I shipped my life across the country. Covid happened and I don’t want to give it that much credit but it really tested us real quick as we have spent every waking minute with one another since it started. We were stuck in Belize (which I didn’t mind) and eventually took a repatriation flight home to WA. I was suppose to find an apartment when I got to WA but it was impossible with all the lockdown and very sparse availability of living quarters where we live. So eventually I moved in. EVERY WAKING MINUTE for almost two years we have been building together a friendship and relationship like I’ve never experienced before. It has been an adventure so far and just think that this is just the beginning!
Cory and Nathaniel (from this point forward, Nate) met on January 24, 2019, in San Pedro Belize. After attending a meeting, we went with a group to dinner. I had mentioned that a group of us were planning an international conference the following year, to which Cory said she wanted to participate, and we swapped contact info. What I didn’t know at the time was she couldn’t care less about the conference; she just wanted my number I wasn’t in a place at that time for relationships and wasn’t even paying attention to her advances until later. After dinner we headed over to Saul’s cigar shop. Once I had finished my cigar, I said I was taking off and that it has been nice to meet her. No sooner had I gotten out the door, that Cory messaged me to say, “thanks for offering me a ride home.” Still being a little confused by what was really going on, I said I would come back and get her, only to arrive and find out her DAD had picked her up. RED ALERT RED ALERT!! After some very necessary jokes, we realized that Cory’s trip was coming to an end, and I was heading to Guatemala for a few days. I figured it was most likely for the best, but Cory has a different idea. She extended her trip another week just to be there when I got back from Guatemala, and the night before she left, we met up for another meeting, dinner, and just spent some time getting to know each other better. This would start a friendship that we cultivated until we met again back in Belize in October of that year. So, 10 months later, after building a friendship through texts, calls, and messages, on two different coasts, while back in Belize, we decided to try a “long distance” relationship. Little did I know within the next couple of months, Cory was making plans to move to Washington. We decided that she would ship her stuff to Washington, we would meet up in March of 2020 to put on that international conference, and then when we got back to Washington, she would find a place to live, and we would try to have what most people call a normal “dating” relationship. Then there was that whole COVID-19 thing. There was no international conference, and we were stuck in Belize thanks to a countrywide lockdown. We literally had to take a repatriation flight back to the US, where we found most of the country also in lockdown. There would be no looking for apartments or houses. None were available, and no one was doing any showings. After a few months, and a slow trickle into the house of more and more of Cory’s belongings, we realized that we moved right from long distance relationship to “normal” dating relationship, to living together. During a worldwide pandemic, where you spend 24 hours a day with another person, in confined spaces, with little to no interaction with other people, many relationships suffered. For Cory and I, it was the perfect environment to build a beautiful relationship together. We started hiking all over Washington, camping, taking trips to state and National Parks. Nearly every moment of every day since March 1, 2020 has been spent with us together and I realized that I wanted to make that a more permanent arrangement. In July of 2021, I asked Cory’s parents for permission to ask her to marry me, to which they said yes. At the time, we were already celebrating Cory’s cousin Kelly’s engagement, and her sister Bethany’s engagement, and my daughter Grayson’s fast approaching wedding. I said that I wanted to give each one of these women their time to shine, including Cory. On October 3, 2021, approximately 20 hours after Grayson’s wedding, I asked Cory to marry me at Pinnacle Peak, in Mt. Rainer National Park. And just think—this is just the beginning….
Cory's side of the story...
One night, while vacationing with my parents, I decided to catch a meeting. There were some other tourists in the meeting which was usually normal but I knew this one was different. He was funny, outgoing, loud and had these dreamy blue eyes. I was like yea, I wanna get to know this guy. So we went to dinner and then to Sauls for coffee and cigars after. I made several advances but apparently I just wasn’t getting through. Nate left Saul’s. I text him and said thanks for the offer of a ride home(even though he didn’t offer). I had no idea my Dad was already on his way to come pick me up at Saul’s because his adult 30 something year old daughter was incapable of walking back to the condo…(insert eyeroll). Anyway God must not have wanted that night encounter to happen so it didn’t. Nate was heading to Guatemala and I was heading back to -14 degree days in good old Erie, Pa. So I reached out to a good friend at United and changed my flight for another week. I mean why not. I was quitting my job anyways they weren’t going to miss me and I could see Nate before he left. So We got to hang out one more night before we both left and it was really nice. I moved to Raleigh after that trip and Nate and I stayed in touch, building a friendship over the phone and across the US. I think we connected on the phone every single day until we first were reunited in Washington DC and then back in Belize in Oct of 2019. On that trip we decided we would try a long distant relationship and flew back and forth a couple times. I decided I would move to WA really to give this whole thing a real chance even though Nate loved the space between hahaha. We met back down in Belize in March and I shipped my life across the country. Covid happened and I don’t want to give it that much credit but it really tested us real quick as we have spent every waking minute with one another since it started. We were stuck in Belize (which I didn’t mind) and eventually took a repatriation flight home to WA. I was suppose to find an apartment when I got to WA but it was impossible with all the lockdown and very sparse availability of living quarters where we live. So eventually I moved in. EVERY WAKING MINUTE for almost two years we have been building together a friendship and relationship like I’ve never experienced before. It has been an adventure so far and just think that this is just the beginning!