Jeremy & Corey: Love Outdoors
Jeremy and Corey met at an open gym volleyball night in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “The next day I had to move to Missouri for work so at the time, I didn’t want to focus on a relationship with Corey. We kept in contact over the next few months via Snapchat, texting, and Facebook.” As the summer approached, a couple of Jeremy’s close friends were planning a camping and canoeing trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Northern Minnesota. “We needed a 4th person to even out the canoes, so I took a chance and invited Corey. He seemed like a good fit—adventurous, masculine, outdoorsy, and cute. All this, despite never really interacting with him face-to-face. So our first date was literally a five day canoe-camping adventure in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which has continued to be our magical place together ever since.”
The rest is history. After the camping trip, Jeremy and Corey continued seeing each other. They fell in love, and they realized that there wasn’t anyone else they’d rather be with. They wanted to get married.
“Three years after our first date, I proposed to him. I did it around Valentines Day out on frozen Lake Nokomis, near our home in southern Minneapolis. I lied to him, telling him I joined an astronomy club—something I totally would do—and that I was going out on the lake to watch a meteor shower. I told him that I needed him to come with me since it was below zero outside, and I didn't want to go alone.” Corey joined him on the frozen lake under the night sky. “For some reason, all the halogen lamps that surround the lake were out for maintenance, so it was great.” It was pitch black, and the night sky was clear with bright stars scattered throughout. “Once we were out in the middle of the lake I told him how much he meant to me, and then got down on one knee. I proposed with a meteor pendant instead of a ring. He’s worn it around his neck every day since, still to this day. The box I had it in was lit up with an LED lite so he could see it when I opened it to him. He said yes, we kissed, and then the sky literally lit up for a couple minutes in a fantastic over-the-top firework display.” Jeremy had his friends waiting on shore with a pair of binoculars so that they could time the fireworks perfectly with the proposal. “These may have been illegal to light off in Minnesota, but it really was a magical display. Corey was completely surprised by the proposal, and was even more amazed by the fireworks. The display was so big that I was seriously worried the police would be on the way.” Jeremy and Corey quickly escaped the lake and met their friends at a local bar to drink champaign and celebrate.
Jeremy and Corey decided to plan a nontraditional wedding. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, being where they first spent time together and fell in love, they wanted to make sure to get married there. “It was a difficult decision to have our wedding alone in the BWCA, since our families and friends would not be attending. We both have large and loving families and lots of supportive friends. Despite this, we just wanted our wedding to be simple, just us outside in the BWCA.”
That summer, Jeremy and Corey went up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with two of their friends to celebrate their wedding. “One of our friends took photos and the other got ordained to conduct the ceremony. We found the most amazing place along a river next to the Canadian border with a gorgeous waterfall in the background. We wore our most stylish camping clothes,” Jeremy laughed, “and we made corsages from the local plants and flora. We wrote our own vows and had our friend Sarah who was ordained do the ceremony. We let her say whatever she chose was right for us. It was the best and I’ll never forget it. We both cried, kissed, and cheered. There were several bald eagles flying above us during the ceremony too—it was seriously amazing. Since glass isn’t allowed in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, we had boxed wine with us and canned champagne.”
Unfortunately, their wedding photos did not materialize. “Jose was so great though, and took hundreds of photos of us. There was an issue with the camera itself he didn't know about and the majority of the pictures didn’t really turn out. We only have a few good photos from the day, and we are okay with that!”
Knowing that their friends and family wouldn’t be able to attend the wedding in the BWCA, Jeremy and Corey asked them to write to them. "We asked our friends and family to write us letters about how they know us, what they thought about our relationship, and any marriage advice they wanted to give us.” They received around 60 personal letters from their closest friends and family, and took turns reading them every night around the campfire during their wedding canoe-camping trip. “All of them were amazing and so heartfelt. We happy-cried often reading them. All the letters now reside in a wedding binder we made once we settled into married life together."
Jeremy and Corey returned to Minneapolis and started their new life together as husbands. Now, four years later, Jeremy and Corey have a child. “We are donor dads to a lesbian couple, so we have a four-year old now. We have Shar-Peis for dogs. We continue to live next to Lake Nokomis, our happy place.”
