How We Met

In November of 2015, leaders from across the Pacific gathered in Manila for the APEC Summit. Gary was there as part of the White House team, traveling with President Obama's delegation. He had no idea the most important meeting of his life wouldn't be anywhere on the official agenda.

Not far away, Seraephina was buried in the organized chaos of her law school's bar operations committee, juggling her own deadlines and responsibilities. Two people from completely different worlds, brought into the same small radius by chance and a little help from Tinder.

A few messages turned into a plan, and the plan turned into dinner in BGC. What was supposed to be a simple evening went long into the night. It was the kind of conversation where you lose track of time, and by the end of it, they both knew this was something rare.

The Distance

What came next wasn't easy. When the summit ended, Gary went back to his life and work in the United States, and oceans and time zones settled in between them. For a while, love meant late night calls, counting down to the next visit, and holding onto a future neither of them could quite see yet. When Seraephina was accepted into law schools in the U.S., the distance finally started to close, and their certainty about each other only grew.

One thing led to another, the way the best stories tend to go.

Lake Tahoe, 2019

In 2019, with the mountains and the still blue water of Lake Tahoe as their witnesses, Gary and Seraephina eloped. It was quiet, intimate, and completely theirs. A promise made between two people who had already crossed the world to be together.

Today

And now here we are. Today we renew the vows we made to each other, finally surrounded by the family and friends who couldn't be with us in 2019. This celebration is for all of you, the people who shaped us, cheered us on, and loved us through every mile of the journey.

Thank you for being part of our story. The best chapters are the ones we get to share.

With love,

Gary & Seraephina