Meredith and Jack both attended Syracuse University in 2013, but it took them two years and 3,500 miles before they would meet in London. A mutual friend and a mutual love of dumplings brought them together on one of the first nights of their study abroad trip as they dined on the streets of Chinatown long after midnight. Meredith showed her competitive spirit, challenging Jack to a race back to their hotel after the impromptu first date. The race’s winner is lost to history, but little did they know they’d both won each other for a lifetime.

Back in Syracuse, the pair became inseparable on campus, from Meredith’s sorority formals, to 226 Euclid, and most of all, to Syracuse basketball games.

Their shared love of travel persisted to a post-grad trip through nine countries that eventually dropped them permanently in New York City, where they briefly attempted to live apart, the long subway ride proving far too much trouble. A year later, Meredith & Jack moved into an apartment in Chelsea, the home base from which they’d explore hundreds of NYC restaurants, attend dozens of concerts (thanks Mitch), and for one 4-week period in early 2020, literally did not leave at all. New York, they’d later tell each other, was the place where they each came to know that they’d never want to leave the other.

After a cross-country road trip led to three long stints in Los Angeles, the next New York winter was too much to bear. Meredith & Jack moved to Los Angeles, where Jack was born and would soon start to plan an ever-so-calculated proposal. Wanting to both surprise and pop the question back in their favorite city, he set in motion an intricate plan based around their trip to NYC for Thanksgiving 2022.

Meredith was none the wiser, despite Jack’s entire family happening to be in New York the same weekend, his constant reminders to bring her “A+ clothes” on the trip, and his mom taking her to get her nails done before they left (thanks Leonie). After a Michelin-starred lunch, a stroll through the city streets, and a purportedly happenstance arrival on the roof of their old building in Chelsea, Jack was down on one knee, telling a far-too-long tale of how they got themselves there.

Meredith said “of course!”, and the celebration began. After a week on the east coast, they were back in LA, picking a wedding date to plan for and a puppy to start their family with.