Allie and Whitney’s story starts in the summer of 2012 – about a year before the couple first met. Allie spent the summer between her junior and senior years of college studying abroad at Temple University, Japan. There she fulfilled a childhood dream, living and studying for three months in Tokyo!
Meanwhile, in the fall of the same year, Whitney too journeyed to Japan but for a pilgrimage across Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s main island. On his 40 day, 400 mile hike, Whitney walked through 3 provinces, visited 42 temples, and had countless bowls of shrimp tempura udon!
After returning home, almost a year passed by before Whitney’s mom Debbe invited her Hagley Museum coworker Tanya over for dinner. She heard that Allie, Tanya’s daughter, had recently returned from Japan, and thought it was a great opportunity for both Allie and Whitney to share stories and photos from their adventures overseas. Unbeknownst to everyone, as Allie and Whitney talked throughout the night, they discovered that they had much more in common than just a trip. They both went to art school, and love Muse, and live in Philadelphia! But a dinner party was hardly enough time to properly get to know one another, so Allie shyly asked Whitney for his email address, and they arranged to meet up again soon in Philadelphia.
Barely a week later, the two met at Honey’s Café in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties for brunch and picked up right where they left off. The conversation ranged from art, to music, rowing and swimming, mutual friends, Delaware and Philly, the University of the Arts and Tyler School of Art, work and school, and on and on…
Late morning carried right into the afternoon. Allie and Whitney didn’t expect their brunch to continue but couldn’t help finding more and mores ways to keep the conversations going. When Whitney suggested they walk towards his office in Center City, Allie jumped at the opportunity to join him! The two were so engrossed in conversation that the 17 block walk to Rittenhouse Square passed impossibly quickly. Still not wanting to part ways, they decided to keep walking and talking until they found themselves clear across the city, standing by the Schuylkill river well beyond the Museum of Art.
And this was only their first day together, there have been many more since…
About 3 years later they took a walk along the banks of the Schullkyll river, ending at the same spot they had walked to on their first date.
This time Whitney brought a picnic basket full of carefully wrapped bento boxes and an unexpected gift. As Allie unwrapped the last bento, it turned out to be a simple cloth holding a ring. After a few minutes, maybe more, recovering from the surprise she said “Yes!” Allie and Whitney began a new chapter in their journey.
