Dan grew up in Wisconsin and attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He followed that with a Master's at Cambridge and seven years on nuclear submarines -- which is how he ended up in the Northwest. For the last three-plus years he has been a senior vice president at Caribou Coffee in Minneapolis, commuting back and forth every weekend.

I grew up in Iowa and 17 years ago came to Seattle, where I've been a writer/editor for magazines, books and websites, with an emphasis on travel. I currently work for Bing Travel in Bellevue as an editor and producer.

Dan flies home to Issaquah every weekend to be with me and the two most amazing kids on the planet (no, we're not biased at all!): his son David and daughter, Anna Kate. And, of course, our two Bernese mountain dogs, Jack and Anya. For fun we like to hike, ski/snowboard, watch movies, and play Words with Friends on our iPads. (We are obsessed, and one of these days I will actually win a game against Dan.)

Dan and I love nothing better than hanging out with the kids, and being in the mountains together. We've climbed Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and the Grand Teton (Dan summited, me not so much). For our honeymoon we'll attempt one of the seven summits: Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe. You may not think sleeping in a tent in the snow on a Russian mountainside sounds very romantic, but to us it's perfect!  

Our "how we met" story is a very modern one: We were introduced through a dating service for professionals who were too busy to date.. and we were indeed so busy our first date was only scheduled for an hour -- drinks at Ponti's Grill in Fremont. I had been through the blind-date drill before, so I wasn't expecting the meetup to last longer than a cup of coffee. Wow, was I surprised! I didn't want to leave: Dan was (and IS) the most intriguing, funny, sexy and smart person I'd met in a long time. He made me laugh on that first evening, and he has been making me laugh ever since.

Not only that, but he introduced me to his two wonderful children, who've I had the great joy of watching grow up. I can't imagine life without this amazing family, and am so thrilled that Anna Kate and David will be standing up with us as Maid of Honor and Best Man.

We are excited for the wedding day, not only because of the meaning of the day itself, but also because we will be celebrating with so many of our dear friends and relatives! Thanks for sharing our special day.