WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!
10.02.2026 - 10.05.2026
MENDOCINO , CA
Our Story
We first connected in the fall of 2024 by way of a dating app. Marie messaged Krisanne with emphatic agreement on Krisanne’s dating prompt stance of needing to find a front-facing toilet paper woman to complete her. We were taken by one another’s kind eyes, beauty, and the immense joy that poured out of each others’ photos on the dating platform. We were each drawn to notable shots of Marie sitting in a life-sized, neon lit tinned fish can, beaming with laughter while surrounded by her community, and Krisanne showing off the fresh ink of her Gee Whiz tattoo whilst sporting a t-shirt adorned with barn owls.
After a few weeks of cheeky messages and navigating one another’s social calendars, our first date took place on October 3, 2024 at Bad Walter’s ice cream shop in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, California.
Krisanne swiftly made her promenade down College Avenue to meet Marie for the first time after fixing a plumbing issue at her boss’s UC-Berkeley rental property. A couple of blocks away, Marie came into focus standing in front of the ice cream shop and Krisanne thought to herself, “She’s beautiful.” Full of nerves, Krisanne hugged Marie upon meeting her and couldn’t help but immediately tell her about the toilet she had just successfully plunged for a college tenant. Much to Marie’s delight, she thought, “She’s really cute AND she’s really weird.”
While noshing on our ice cream, we reminisced on a topic that almost all people talk about during their first dates: Midwest funeral fare - specifically casseroles, is it savory or is it sweet salad roulette with cool whip or mayo as a required ingredient, and Hawaiian Roll ham and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter sandwiches (we are open to sponsorship agreements).
We grew up a mere 343 miles apart - Marie in Canton, South Dakota and Krisanne in Marion, Iowa. Though our paths never crossed, our upbringings had parallels. We connected seamlessly, sharing a mutual attraction and a desire for finding a life partner. We quickly knew we needed a second date.
Our relationship blossomed from flirty dinners to picnics on the beach to snuggles on the couch with Sassafras. With each encounter, we knew that something special was developing. Marie texted her sister, “To borrow a line from a friend, I think I’m either going to marry her or have a pretty broken heart to heal up.” Krisanne texted her friend, “She’s beautiful, kind and has the perfect doses of weird and wit that dance nicely with me. I am going to fall in love with Marie.”
Krisanne professed her love for Marie by February, narrowly beating Marie to the punch and unknowingly undermining a carefully planned bit involving Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. By June, we merged our lives into our Oakland home, and our relationship continued to grow over Valkyries games, 90s/2000s music, trips to Guerneville, making up songs for Sassafras, and spending lots of time with each others’ people, a value we quickly realized we have very much in common.
Along the way, we realized we not only loved each other, but we also adored one another’s existing communities of friends and family, which culminated in a trip to Hawaii with Krisanne’s family, where we both agreed we were ready to get the wheels rolling on getting hitched. We pretty much immediately started planning our wedding, not letting a trivial little detail like not being formally engaged yet get in the way (we may have had our venue, photographer, and catering all booked before either of us actually put a ring on it…when you know you know!).
Since Krisanne stole Marie’s thunder on saying I love you, Marie promptly called dibs on the proposal and immediately got to planning. With some very packed calendars, Burning Man, and the start of the 49ers season in the way, it was a long-term con, with nearly two months of covert planning to surprise Krisanne with a proposal at Muir Beach (again, of course, assisted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray), under the guise of a Sassafras beach outing and an elaborate feast of white truffles shipped direct from Italy to our dear friends (which unfortunately, was not real).
As we started walking back after popping the question in a secluded area beautifully staged by our friends, we were continuously joined by more friends along the way until we arrived at a seemingly impromptu engagement party at the other end of the beach, where a blanket printed with our faces much larger than they should ever be displayed was dropped to reveal Krisanne’s parents and aunts, who had flown in to surprise her. Having been carrying around a ring for six weeks in preparation for this moment, Krisanne proposed right back to Marie, and, spoiler alert, we both said yes.
Almost two years exactly to the day of our first date, we’re getting married on October 3, 2026!
