Click here to read our proposal story, as featured in the LGBTQ+ wedding magazine, "Dancing With Her."

For months we've been looking forward to our friends' wedding in D.C. The married-couple-to-be in question -- Arash and Ashby -- are beloved family friends; one of my four brothers became best friends with Arash's brother, Kia, during an internship in undergrad. In that same internship, Kia met his now-fiancée, Natalie, and Bob started becoming part of Kia's family. For Thanksgiving in 2021, Kia, Natalie, and Arash & Ashby came down to Tennessee to have Thanksgiving with our

How I (Kacie) got here... In 2023, I moved from my hometown in East Tennessee to downtown Chicago to pursue my Master's in Journalism at Northwestern University (their journalism program, called Medill, is one of the top 3 in the nation, and is located downtown with the law and medical schools). Over the next year I got my degree, did a lot of political reporting, partied far more than was advisable, and more. A few months after graduating, I was ready to move back home to be