Logan & Michael: One Kind Stranger
Photos: Love and Wolves
“She happened to sit next to me and asked me who at the bar was my type. I looked around and pointed at Logan and said, ‘he’s cute.’ She introduced us and disappeared.” A week later, on their first date—at a burger joint Michael chose, unaware that Logan is a vegetarian—Logan and Michael asked each how they knew the woman who had introduced them. To their amazement, she was a stranger to both and had simply made the most varsity of set-ups as, ten years later, the strangers she’d never met, but introduced, married.
Michael and Logan were living in New York: Michael a life-long New Yorker, Logan a Midwest transplant for his medical residency. After 6-8 months of serious dating, the two moved in together. And not long after, the two made another major move. “We decided to start fostering dogs for a local shelter. Our second foster turned into a big foster failure, though he is still our dog 8-years later!” Michael said. Sharing a house and a hound would inevitably lead to a next step in their relationship.
Photo: Samm Blake @sammblake
“Neither one of us really was in a big rush to get engaged because we were together almost ten years before we got married. But we knew it would come eventually, so neither of us was surprised when it did,” Michael explained. Logan’s medical career took the couple to Boston and eventually to Connecticut where they bought a house. “I thought the day we closed on our house would be a good time to propose, so I began thinking of a cute way to do it,” Michael explained. “I decided on one of those old-school Viewmasters and included a bunch of pictures of us through the years. The last one was of our dog wearing a sign that read: ‘Will you marry daddy?’” Michael managed to make the proposal a surprise. “It was a big day, and he made it even bigger,” Logan shared.
Photo: Logan & Michael
“Planning the wedding was pretty organic, because we both knew what the other liked and Michael had experience in producing events,” Logan said. He went on to say that though it was a wedding, they really were excited for the opportunity to bring together their friends. “We were some of the last of our friends to get married and having been to each other’s friends’ weddings, we were excited to throw them all a great party.” After having to postpone their 2020 wedding for a year, the two went to upstate New York with their dog for a quiet weekend on their original wedding day.
Photo: Samm Blake @sammblake
“A couple of our friends gave us some bottles of champagne, knowing we were bummed about not being able to celebrate our wedding,” Logan explained. In the wooded area behind their house, the two set up a bunch of candles and exchanged vows in the most intimate of ceremonies. “We trashed our tuxes by jumping into the pool, had a cake from a local baker, ordered food from restaurants nearby and spent the weekend away from having to think about anything but being together,” Michael said.
September 2021 came round and the two had the wedding with and for all their friends and family in Middletown, CT. Michael shared how lucky they were that all of their vendors were available the following year. “Same venue, florist, meal, photographer… same everything.”
Photos: Phil Chester @philchester
The ceremony was outside, under willow trees, on a perfect early fall New England day. One of their best friends officiated and walked their dog down the aisle. “He only stayed for the first hour,” the couple said!
Asked about the difference between their intimate wedding and the one surrounded by loved ones, Logan said: “It was a lot more emotional seeing everyone with us.” And despite many still being cautious about the coronavirus, Logan and Michael exchanged new vows surrounded by deep love and friendship.
“Our wedding was a lot more casual than most weddings we’ve been to,” Michael said. “It was a great farm-to-table dinner in an old barn and definitely a big dance party. We had a donut wall, and we actually cut a giant donut as our wedding cake. Though our general vibe is low-key, we made the event feel special.”
Photos: Phil Chester @philchester
Despite rescheduling and last-minute cancellations, Logan said of the wedding: “we couldn’t be more grateful for the people who were there to celebrate with us. And the craziest things will happen, and you just need to run and roll with them.”
On the subject of running, Logan and Michael’s honeymoon is scheduled for later this year tacked on to Logan’s running of the London Marathon, his last of the five big global marathons. “We’ve travelled a lot together, but neither of us have been to Italy.” Perhaps on their travels they will randomly connect two people at a bar and set them on their lifetime adventure.
Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Barns at Middletown
Photographers: Love and Wolves (engagement), Phil Chester (wedding) and Samm Blake (Upstate New York Ceremony)
Invitation Designer: Wouldn't It Be Lovely
