Kara and Coen were fellow members of the Partial Credit A Cappella group at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They bonded over their shared love of music and singing. The two became closely knit, hanging out frequently after rehearsals with friends.

After being completely oblivious to Kara's flirting, Kara asked Coen out, which Coen misunderstood to be another friendly hangout with the entire a cappella group. In her wisdom, fellow member and mutual friend Becca urged Kara to clarify to Coen that this was, in fact, a date. The couple visited The Whistling Kettle, a teahouse that would become one of their favorite spots. Every time they visit Troy they pay The Whisting Kettle a visit.

After surviving his first full year of college, and her most intense semester of her college career at 24 credits, the couple were ready for some much-needed rest. Kara visited Coen and his parents over the summer in Texas.

Kara just graduated with her undergraduate in chemical engineering, and Coen received an internship in DC. Kara visited Coen for a weekend of fun through the capital.

The two spent a relaxing weekend in Vermont - the first of what would be many weekend trips together.

Spring break happened to coincide with the Dutch Carnaval celebration. Kara and Coen visited Coen's sister and celebrated Carnaval in The Netherlands. This was Kara's first time in The Netherlands. Quite the first introduction!

Kara walked across the graduation stage once again, this time with her master's degree in chemistry. Coen received an internship with Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. The two found a short-term lease together and started a "trial run" of living together in Redmond while Coen was working on his internship.

The two had jobs at opposite ends of the country and travel through COVID was a challenge. The two bonded over care-packages sent to each other while they were apart.

Kara found a remote job, allowing her to move to Redmond. The two decided on their new apartment on Valentine's day, 2022. Now, every year on Valentine's day they either decide on their next apartment or renew their existing lease.

Kara and Coen visited the Netherlands once again to see Coen's family and meet Coen's first nephew, Jasper.

After visiting Coen's family, the couple visited Iceland. They visited the famous blue lagoon hot springs, and hiked atop a glacier.

Kara and Coen started fostering with the Whole Cat and Kaboodle. Grace was their third foster. She was supposed to just be a short-term stay while she recovered from her spay procedure but Coen quickly fell in love with her. Kara jumped at the opportunity to adopt and the three now live happily together.

Since then, they have continued to foster and have now fostered more than 15 cats - helping with their nutrition and health.

Coen invited Kara to a relaxing weekend to Olympic National Park. There the two enjoyed nature with hikes through the forest and rested in a quaint "hobbit hole" AirBnB. on November 2nd, Coen made Kara dinner and asked her to marry him. She responded "the answer was always yes."

The couple came to Thanksgiving with Kara's family excited to share the good news. This group photo shows Kara's engagement ring which she hid until this moment.

The couple continued to celebrate their engagement by visiting several Christmas markets in Southern Germany before joining Coen's family for Christmas and New Year's.

We're excited for you to join us on our special day!