Kristen & Richard’s love story is just too amazing/cute/wonderful, so I will let them tell you THEIR version so I don’t mess it up! 😉

“About two years before Richard and I met, my father was insisting that I should meet a young man named Richard. He called me on three-way with my mom, saying he knew of a great guy who had his stuff together and I should consider meeting him. I balked at that and not-so-humbly shut my parents down at the thought of hooking me up with a man.

A couple of states away, Richard’s dad was doing the same thing to him — trying to get him to meet me. Richard had the same idea. He didn’t want to be hooked up.

Our parents met at church more than a decade ago and felt strongly about each other. So strongly, they felt Richard and I would make a great pair. One Christmas I was at my parents’ house in Miami and my now-in-laws were over for a holiday celebration. My now father-in-law cornered me, saying his son had moved from Philadelphia to Connecticut and it was time for us to meet. At the time I was living in Harlem, New York. This put us about 40 minutes away from each other.

So to get the parents off my back and never hear about this again, I agree to get in touch with Richard. I took his number from his dad, but in transit back to NYC, I lost it. Two months later, I remembered the promise I made to get in touch. I reached out to his step-mom and asked for his number. She sent me his digits promptly. 🙂

I sent Richard a text message that went something like: “Hey, this is Tony and Darlene Roger’s daughter. If you are ever in New York City and want to hang out, let me know.” To which he responds back a month or so later. Immediately, I thought, this is why I don’t want to be hooked up. He’s obviously a weirdo. We kept this infrequent text relationship up for another four months. Finally, after speaking on the phone twice and realizing the other was normal, we made plans to meet in person.

Richard came by my apartment on July 19, 2009 to take me to choir rehearsal at church. That was also the day I knew he was The One. I guess parents know best.”

We created these images to celebrate their FIVE-YEAR wedding anniversary and their recent move to Boston. It was an absolutely freezing day in January, but being the rockstars they are, you can’t even tell (minus the cute snuggling pictures)! Thank you for inspiring me with your love and courage, Kristen & Richard!