We often mention random milestones in our relationship — meeting in New York City, moving to Virginia, and so on — but realized the timing of those events isn’t always clear. Wedding Week Dos felt like the perfect chance to tell our story in order: how boy met girl, they fell in love, moved south, adopted a chihuahua and started a blog. A typical love story, right?
2004
- June: I began working as an Assistant Account Executive at an advertising agency in New York City.
- August: A month later, Sherry joined the same agency as a copywriter.
- September: Sherry was assigned to write commercials for the account I managed. We met then, though our interactions were limited at first.
2005
- January–May: Sherry kept getting assigned to projects with me. We bonded over watching terrible reality TV and began spending more time together outside of work, gradually moving from coworkers to friends.
- July 7: A casual after-work gathering turned into an unofficial first date. The night ended with a kiss — yes, I actually kissed her first, despite what our friends say.
- Late July: Weeks into dating, I invited Sherry to visit my family in Virginia, giving her her first real taste of life there. We toured my alma mater, UVA.
- October: We took our first vacation together, driving the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco with my cousin Travis. It remains one of the best trips either of us has taken.
- November: I spent Thanksgiving with Sherry’s family in New York — our first official family holiday together.
- December: After only six months of dating, we decided to move to Virginia together, without hesitation.
2006
- January: We interviewed for positions at the same Richmond ad agency — we liked working together since that’s how we’d met. After some secret research, I bought an engagement ring.
- February: The Richmond jobs didn’t pan out; prospective employers wanted to see that we lived in Virginia first. So we decided to move and find work once we arrived.
- February 25: We left New York in a minivan, arrived in Richmond and moved into a new apartment together, furnished with mismatched hand-me-downs.
- March: Within two weeks I landed a job at a downtown agency (where I still work). Sherry built a client roster and began freelancing full time from home, writing commercial scripts and magazine ads.
- March 18: I proposed. Sherry said yes.
- April 22: A weekend of casual house-hunting quickly turned into buying our first home — a little brick ranch that needed a lot of love.
- May 25: We closed on the house and began moving in and renovating (a process that took many years of loving updates).
- July 7: To celebrate our one-year anniversary, I surprised Sherry with a trip to the Outer Banks.
- October: We returned to California for a second vacation, just the two of us, and were delighted that we didn’t even argue after a week together.
- November 28: After months of searching for the right dog, we adopted a funny-looking chihuahua named Hamburger (aka Burger).
2007
- January–June: Wedding planning filled every spare moment. We discovered we enjoyed teaming up on DIY projects and crafting our celebration together.
- July 7: We were married in our backyard. Travis, who had joined us on that first California road trip, officiated. We exchanged vows and began our married life.
- July 10–16: We honeymooned in Alaska, with our small dog along for the family road trip filled with adventure and silliness.
- September: With the wedding behind us, we invested some savings into a kitchen remodel.
- September 24: I wrote the first post on a blog I suggested we call “Young House Love.” Sherry reluctantly agreed to chronicle our home-improvement projects — and the blog grew from there.
From that point forward, most of our milestones have been documented on this blog. Looking back, it might seem fast to move to a new city, get engaged and buy a house within our first year of dating, but every step felt natural and unforced. Now we’re a little amazed at how quickly life changed, but when you know, you know.
Do you have an interesting relationship timeline? Did things move quickly for you, or did your story unfold slowly? Did you meet at work, through friends, or somewhere unexpected? We love hearing the many different ways people find each other and decide to stay together.