Hello there! We are so incredibly excited to have you join us for our wedding celebration this upcoming September. For us, it has been a long time in the making (3,360 days since our first date). And you can surely blame Steve for this, Chanya has been ready to get hitched for quite some time.

We wanted to use this space to talk a bit about our relationship, our time together, and some of the ideas behind our invite, this website, and our upcoming wedding.

Our Story

We met in 2013. We both attended New York University, Steve a math major (nerd) and Chanya an economics major (still nerdy, but we will not categorize it as such).

At the time, we were oddly connected already through friends of friends. Chanya's roommate reconnected with an elementary school friend, who happened to be Steve's freshman year roommate. Steve's freshman year roommate introduced Chanya's roommate to Steve's roommate at the time. Chanya's other roommate also knew Steve, sort of, and referred to him as "library guy." It was no surprise we'd run into each other eventually.

As our encounters became more frequent, Steve mustered up all the courage to formally ask Chanya out. For those of you in a more "modern time," this act of bravery was harder than swiping right, and asking "what's your ideal Sunday brunch plan?" There was also no facebook/instagram stalking to be had because Chanya has like 0 social media presence. This required Steve to stand up straight and ask that cute girl to go out, all the while fully blacking out.

We shared our first date at a fabled New York cocktail bar, PDT (Please Don't Tell)... Look at one of the inserts in our invite box. And boy, was this a hard bar to get into; you had to call at 3pm, sharp, the day of, and pray that someone would pick up. Steve, early into his career as a software engineer, worked out a program to have multiple phone lines call the bar at 3pm in order to snag a reservation. He was so excited to impress Chanya with a coveted reservation. Now, unbeknownst to Steve, Chanya did not share the same swooning feeling that he felt for her. Steve seemed like a nice guy, her friends could vouch, and well, drinks at PDT?! Who could say no?

The day came, May 12, 2013. Chanya, bright smile, light tan, and purple tank top (she's an organized hoarder, it's in a memory box in storage). Steve in his finest button down (it was torn and eventually tossed years later, he's not one for keepsakes). And, well, the cocktails did flow, so it's hard to recall how it went (at least for Steve who is writing this now), but it must've gone ok.

As the subsequent date came, a viewing of the new Star Trek (my goodness, what a loser, how are we possibly talking about a wedding here), the anxiety rose! Steve, right around the corner from what would eventually become his future home, panic vomited. This happened at the same corner where our dog often urinates! Full circle? Dates continued, and in our first few years we would head to the gym, burn some calories, and refuel at a nearby speakeasy. This became a tradition for us. Late night cocktails, late night delivery orders from the local deli.

Things felt right. Walks to Tompkins Square Bagels and crosswords in the park, finding shared interest in food, drinks, and the city. Our lives became closer, and we decided to move in together to Chanya's apartment (sorry roommates) in 2014.

In our time together, 9+ years, we've gone from strangers, to best friends, dog parents, to life partners. It's been a lot of time, but we truly believe we have something special, and hope you get to feel a glimmer of it with when you celebrate with us at our wedding.

Why does this site look old?

We share a strong passion for New York City: its history, food, drink, culture, and architecture. One of the wonderful things about living here is that in a 10 minute walk, you can walk by an 1800s carriage house turned restaurant, a turn of the century mansion turned museum, an ugly 1960s building, a coffee shop at the base of a glass skyscraper, and a cemetery turned public park. You feel the history of New York City unfold around you as if you've come across an old box of postcards, negatives, and newspaper clippings. This sensation is animated by the TV shows we love from the sitcoms filmed on a sound-stage like Seinfeld, Friends, and How I Met Your Mother to period dramas like The Gilded Age, The Knick, and Mad Men and even historical Sci-Fi like Man in the High Castle. We feel so lucky to live in this dynamic city that has had such a rich history and passionate residents despite its many struggles. Some of our favorite places play on the concept of telling a story over many time periods -- the Tenement Museum (swing by if you have time), Dear Irving (where we had our engagement party), and the Transit Museum.

For our wedding, we want to share a glimpse of our relationship and passions with our guests. We think there is an exciting clash, sequencing, and tension that comes from looking at the past from today and looking at today from the past (if that were possible). In particular, we're excited by the Gilded Age (1870 - 1910) and Prohibition Era (1920 - 1933), and how much has changed in NYC, and how much has stayed the same.

What's up with the invite?

We're big fans of Escape-the-Rooms, and experiential theater, so we knew we wanted to bring some mystery and fun to our invitation. We wanted our guests to experience something a little different from what they usually feel when they get an invitation. We know the invitations were funky and we hope that you had some fun trying to figure out what on earth to do with them, so if the experience was confusing, we sort of wanted that for you. We hope that the invitation box transported you to a time long gone. The invitation was an attempt to place the recipient in the shoes of someone uncovering a memory box that feels like an 1880s steamer trunk. At the bottom, you should have found a calling card on a platter from the Gilded Age, which is crisp and new. For those of you who watch Wanda Vision, this was our attempt to make things feel a little "off" (the almost brand new card amongst all old things… are we in the present or the past?). The phone call brings you a bit more to the present, to the 1920s Speakeasy time. The “telegram” text message brings you to this website - a modern, digital experience, built today, but heralding the past.

Our wedding weekend, too, will acknowledge this clash of modern and old and take place in this City that was a fundamental part of our relationship. We are thrilled to be celebrating with the people we love the most from our past and are still with us while our little love story continues to unfold.

Bonus points: Did you notice the hidden message in the phone number? Did you find another Wonda Vision moment on the PDT clipping?