once upon a time

in a little town called charlottesville, virginia

jessica was living at a bed and breakfast as their night manager. she also worked at a local auction house, and spent her free time writing at her favorite coffee shop and volunteering as an english tutor.

unbeknownst to jessica, a handsome young gentleman named john lived just two blocks away. john spent his days working as a software engineer for a medical software startup, training for the richmond marathon, and volunteering as an english tutor.

one evening, jessica discovered that her blind date had been cancelled, and decided to go out with a friend to the microbrewery next door.

that same evening, john decided to meet a friend at his favorite local hang-out, a nearby microbrewery.

it was a busy night at the brewery, and john and jessica both ran into lots of old friends and met many new people - including each other.

their interesting conversation led to an exchange of emails and then their first date, on september 19, 2011.

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in the ensuing months and years...

they volunteered in the philippines for disaster relief

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spent a year traveling full-time to 13 countries on 4 continents

(which was incredible but not as glamorous as it sounds)

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and moved to a little town called new york city

where, eventually, jessica became a programmer via a challenging "bootcamp", and john quit his job to start a business to consult companies on the use of a cutting-edge technology.

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having successfully worked through the challenges of full-time travel and major career changes they decided to take the plunge, and eloped on september 19th, 2017 - the six-year anniversary of their first date.

they really enjoyed their special day with each other

and are looking forward to having mini celebrations - and spending holidays - with friends and (now official) family.

as well as having many more adventures together