Our story began in Paris where we each attended the same writing program. Different years, but ultimately the reason our lives came into the same orbit. Years later, at a book launch in Manhattan for the writer who ran the Paris program, our paths finally crossed. While the timing took more than a year to align, our friendship grew with shared travel stories and endless restaurant recommendations. A trip to Morocco together led us to the sweeping sand dunes of the Sahara Desert and to a relationship that only grew stronger back in New York.

In the years that followed, we built a life together at home and traveled around the world. We attended weddings in Pakistan and Portugal, spent Christmases in Austria and France, and flew to see concerts in England and Colombia. We safaried in Botswana and Zambia, went wine tasting in South Africa and Spain, and relaxed on isolated islands from Fiji to St. Kitts to Trinidad and Tobago. We rang in New Years in India and Egypt, took a sleeper train through Zimbabwe, and navigated a boat around Lake Como. There were adventures in Cameroon, South Sudan, and Nigeria and parties in Ibiza, St. Tropez, and Mexico City. From the beaches of Mozambique to the omakases of Japan, we shared countless experiences that brought us together even more with every stop. Closer to home, we hiked and leaf peeped in Vermont, did a pizza crawl in Connecticut, and roadtripped to the North Fork. We shucked oysters in the Bay Area, attended family reunions (and Laker games) in Los Angeles, and dined at dream restaurants in Napa and Chicago.

However, it was Libya where we ended up back on the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert. This time, with a small red string (representing our destiny to meet and fall in love) cut from local Libyan marriage beads (a symbolic stand-in for a family heirloom ring kept safely at home). We left engaged and more excited than ever about our future together.

Now we return to France, back to where it all began, to celebrate with our closest friends and family. We hope you’ll be able to attend and share the beginning of this next chapter with us.