Ali and a friend moved into the lower unit of a St. Louis duplex in the summer of 2016. They were told that there were two neighbors in the upper unit, but a whole month passed before those neighbors made an appearance. It was an evening in July, when Ali was backing out of the parking lot. Charlie and his roommate Blake were taking out the trash together. Ali’s first impression was that the guys were a couple. Two males doing chores together voluntarily, not to mention that they were dressed alike? It seemed a reasonable assumption to make.

September came, and the girls hosted a backyard cookout and invited Charlie and Blake to join. That night, it was discovered that the two men were not, in fact, an item. As it turned out, the fashion-coordinated, co-habiters were decidedly interested in women. Ali and Charlie became friends that night after much conversation and dancing at one of their favorite Irish bars in Saint Louis. The two of them discovered a shared affinity for lifting weights, and began weekly workouts together. Those workouts quickly turned into long texting conversations, which ultimately turned into excuses to see each other more than once a week. All the while, Charlie played it cool. Ali was under the impression that their relationship was completely platonic. Little did she know that he was talking with his family and many of his friends about “this girl he really liked who happened to be his neighbor.” Ali’s friends began to comment about how Ali’s face would light up whenever she would talk about Charlie. Once the two of them started dating in November, The reaction from friends and family on both sides could be summed up, “Well, that and a bull-dozer would knock me over.” Ali & Charlie were the last two to discover what everyone saw as apparent.

The first weekend of dating was spent carving pumpkins, drinking fall beers, and staying up into the wee hours on the back porch, falling in love to the tune of each other’s voices. It didn’t take them long to realize that they were in this for the long haul.

In keeping with their tradition of visiting Northern Michigan every summer in July, Ali and Charlie planned their destination wedding accordingly. They chose the beach at the Grand Traverse Resort as the backdrop for both ceremony and reception, decorated in understated gold and blue hues. Here’s a peek at the first day of their newest adventure.