The story of how paddy got two daddies...
The TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) version: Matt and Jacob met in grad school. They should have been studying, but instead went to a bar. They met there. Later, Matt and Jacob moved to Baltimore, then DC, then Baltimore again. Matt proposed in 2019, then Covid hit, and now they’re actually following through with their wedding. A dog named Paddington is around for all of it.
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On a Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, Matt was ignoring his impending statistics final exams when he and a group of his friends were out enjoying $2 schooners at Chumley's on High Street. That same Thursday, Jacob was engaged in very important professional development work: Bar Review. Please note that Bar Review didn’t actually mean preparing for the Bar exam in law school; Bar Review was a weekly student happy hour (or happy hours) with a pun in its name.
As the evening went on, Matt convinced his friends to go to Union Cafe, a bar in the Short North District famous for its $3 Long Island Iced Teas (read: hangover in a glass). Matt got to Union first and started chatting someone named Zak up at the bar. Jacob’s Bar Review crowd also made their way to Union Cafe. When he arrived, Jacob recognized Zak and walked over to Zak and Matt. That’s where Matt and Jacob met – at the bar at Union Cafe, when they probably should have been studying but are now very, very grateful they both chose to go out that night.
On Friday, Matt went to a fellow grad student’s birthday party. (Her party’s theme was literally just “tequila,” so you can imagine how the night went!) At the party, Matt shared with his friends that he had met someone the night before and said “This feels like the guy I will marry. I’m sure he’s the one I’ll end up with.” Someone replied, “Matt, that’s ridiculous.” Just to spite her, Matt made up his mind right then and there that he would marry Jacob and not invite her to the wedding. (That’s a joke – promise!)
They arranged their first date for that Saturday night at Matt the Miller’s. The conversation flowed effortlessly; it’s the first time -- and to date the only time -- that Matt’s phone went unchecked for three hours. They quickly fell for each other. (I mean, can you blame either of them?) They had successfully bamboozled each other into thinking the other was simultaneously brilliant, cool, and fun. In reality, they were nerdy and dorky and sweet and would come to love staying indoors and watching TV series together. Matt soon met Paddington, and Paddy quickly embraced having Matt around. (Matt has a slightly higher body temperature than Jacob, so Paddy prefers to snuggle with Matt.) They spent their next months practically inseparable. They introduced each other to TV shows – SMASH, Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, House of Cards, and an unfortunate stint where Matt convinced Jacob to watch a few seasons of Glee.
Over the summer, Matt moved to Akron, Ohio, to work for Smucker’s, while Jacob stayed in Columbus. They saw each other most weekends – and it was great practice for being in a long distance relationship. Over the summer, Jacob had been accepted to spend his third year of law school at Georgetown, so he moved back to Baltimore. Ohio State told Matt “maybe you’re better off as a Master’s student than a Ph.D. student,” so Matt’s four more years at OSU turned into just one. Matt sought jobs in the Baltimore/D.C. area and accepted one that allowed him to move to Baltimore after graduation.
Matt and Jacob spent a year commuting from Baltimore to D.C. and back (three hours!) every day for work and school. After Jacob wrapped up his final semester of law school, he accepted a job in D.C. and they moved into the District. They spent three years there – one in Shaw, two in Navy Yard – before moving back home to Baltimore.
Jacob and Matt love to travel, and throughout their relationship, they have had the great fortune to travel for work and for fun. Below, you'll see them (in clockwise order, starting from the top left) in:
- Casablanca, Morocco
- On the Inca Trail in Peru
- Istanbul, Turkey
- the Acropolis in Athens, Greece
In November 2019, Matt went abroad for work with General Assembly, teaching courses in the Netherlands and Scotland. The timing was perfect – Matt’s teaching bumped right up against Thanksgiving, so they both had some time off. Jacob joined Matt in London before going to Scotland, and they planned to visit some of Matt’s family in Norway.
Matt and Jacob went to Bergen, Norway for two days, then flew to Tromsø, Norway. Tromsø is extremely far north – it’s above the Arctic Circle. When they arrived in Tromsø at around 2:00 in the afternoon, it was pitch black. Jacob asked the taxi driver when the sun would emerge again. The taxi driver said “January 21.” (Jacob and Matt arrived in Tromsø on November 30 – meaning there were literally nearly two months left of pitch black weather, called “polar night.”) Luckily, this made it likelier that they would see the Northern Lights!
Matt, knowing he was going to propose, was nervous about the whole thing – carrying a ring across five countries over two weeks does wonders for jacking your anxiety level as high as it can go! The initial plan was that they were going to go on a “Northern Lights sightseeing tour,” where you bundle up in a bus and a driver drives all over and attempts to find visible Northern Lights. Matt wanted to propose to Jacob under the Northern Lights.
The tour was canceled for Friday night due to inclement weather. Matt was worried; they had a tour booked for Saturday, but if he waited until Saturday to propose and that tour also got canceled, then what was the backup plan? Matt made the decision to propose after midnight on Friday night (well, Saturday morning). Saturday was December 1, six years to the day since Matt and Jacob had made their relationship “official.”
Matt and Jacob left their hotel in search of a pub. (One of their favorite travel activities is to drink local beer!) They wandered the quiet snow-lined streets until they found a single open burger place. Matt had the ring in his coat pocket. His new plan was to swap coats and have Jacob find the ring.
Before they left, Matt insisted that they swap: “My coat has a hood; you should take that one! I’ll walk without a hood.” They walked back toward their hotel, and the wind and snow had largely settled. As they neared their hotel, Jacob unzipped his coat pockets to put his hands in, then felt the ring. Matt grinned and said “If you give me that, I can do something with it.” They came to pause near the water, Matt said some private things to Jacob, and got down on one knee to ask the question.
Jacob said yes! (That probably goes without saying, since you’re finding yourself on a wedding website for Jacob & Matt.)
They went inside their hotel and approached the bar – they wanted to get a bottle of champagne to celebrate and notify some of their loved ones. A wedding reception was being held at the hotel as well, so they sidled up against some inebriated partygoers. The bartender shared that there were two types of bottles of champagne. Matt and Jacob looked at each other and opted for the nicer one. (You hopefully only get engaged once!)
The closest inebriated partygoer looked at Matt and Jacob, then exclaimed “Do you just sh*t money?” (That quote would be verbatim if it were unedited.) Matt turned to her and said “Oh, um, no, but we actually just got engaged so we’re celebrating.” That’s how Matt and Jacob told the first person that they had gotten engaged. (Tradition probably dictates that she should have some role in the wedding ceremony, but Matt and Jacob decided to forego that.)
The next day, Jacob and Matt saw the stunning Northern Lights:
On Sunday, Matt and Jacob were supposed to Baltimore via Oslo and Reykjavík. The flight to Oslo was canceled due to the blizzard. Matt and Jacob frantically tried to find flights home. Jacob called the American Express team for assistance."Um, we have a way, but you might not like it since you get home a day late. What if you flew from Tromsø to Bergen, then flew to Paris and had an overnight layover there, then to Detroit to Baltimore?"
Jacob asked “You’re asking us if we’d like to have an overnight stay in Paris?"
"Yes, we’re very sorry for the inconvenience."
So, Jacob and Matt got to spend a surprise bonus night in Paris on their way back home.
Since getting engaged in December 2019, the world has gotten significantly more unpredictable. Initially planning on a short engagement, Matt and Jacob have spent a lot of time at home due to Covid. (Neither has been in an office since March 2020!) Paddy has loved it, though, spending significantly more time with his dads.
Matt and Jacob moved into their new home in February 2021. All three love the new home – Paddy has plenty of windows to bask near throughout the day and Matt and Jacob are excited to host their wedding there on December 11, 2021. (Matt prefers writing it as 12/11/21 because it’s a palindrome!)
Thanks for following along with our story thus far! If you made it this far, you deserve an award! It'll be paid in the form of delicious dinner, incredible company, and an unforgettable weekend this December.
Matt and Jacob are excited to continue writing their story and look forward to moving into their next chapter as husbands.
