CHAPTER ONE: EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS
Technically speaking, Sara and Peter met in middle school, though they don’t remember interacting with each other much. When asked about their first recollections of each other, Sara remembers that Pete used to wear brightly colored high-top Converse and recalls recognizing that he was a pretty badass percussionist even at age 13. Pete remembers that Sara sang “The Sounds of Silence” for a 6th grade talent show which stood out as a strong stylistic juxtaposition to the more common “renditions” of En Vogue, Kris Kross and Mariah Carey that were common at that time.
A few years later in High School, Peter and Sara officially connected while participating in The Fall Festival of Shakespeare. It was a production of King John—Pete was playing the drums of war, Sara was playing with a broad sword during an elaborately choreographed fight sequence. They've been running in similar music and theater circles together ever since!
Sara left high school after her sophomore year to attend college two years early. While she and Peter never completely lost touch, they both got very involved in the development of their own creative pursuits. Pete continued to hone his percussion skills and was accepted as a student at the Eastman School of music, Sara continued her training as actor and director.
CHAPTER TWO: UNMISTAKABLE CONNECTION
In the year 2000, Sara was living on the West Coast studying physical theater at Dell'Arte International and had decided to take a semester off in order to tour and perform professionally. Pete was immersed in his music studies at Eastman in Rochester, NY.
In the winter of 2001, Pete decided to take some time off as well in order to embark on a roadtrip of his own. He hopped in his beloved yellow Toyota pickup named Stinky and headed West. At this point, Sara had returned to school and had relocated back to the Berkshires to complete her B.A. It’s quite possible the two passed each other on Interstate 80 without knowing it!
For the next three months, Pete traveled across the United States and Sara began work on her thesis. When Pete returned to the Berkshires in the Spring of 2001, it was the first time they had seen each other in years. Their friendship from the old days had been strengthened by a recent series of letters, phone calls and one brief and bizarre chance encounter in Wooster, Ohio. Being in the same place with each other felt like the most incredibly perfect and amazing thing in the entire universe.
CHAPTER THREE: THE LIFE OF PETE AND SARA
When Sara invited Pete to collaborate with her creatively as the composer for her senior thesis, their creative collaboration soon sparked a romantic collaboration as well! They laughed a lot. They made theater together. They dreamed of things big and wild and outrageous. They acted silly and serious, passionate and ridiculous. They swam in rivers and hiked through corn-fields. They shared their favorite music and looked at the stars. They stayed up all night laughing and talking and they began to fall utterly and completely in love with each other.
Their relationship began to grow. They graduated from college, moved to Brooklyn, started a fringe festival, made many new friends and reconnected with many old ones. They traveled to Montreal, Mexico and Scotland, drove cross country, camped out on the Connecticut shore. They supported each other through graduate school, odd jobs and their emerging careers as artists and entrepreneurs. They played music, directed plays and drank a lot of coffee. They did laundry, hosted many gatherings and gave each other epic amounts of loving flack.
CHAPTER FOUR: THE QUESTION
On June 3, 2011, Pete proposed. It was Sara’s 30th birthday and the ring Pete used belonged to his father’s grandmother. Pete stated that marriage was an opportunity to move forward in their lives with intention and purposefulness and to celebrate their relationship in front of their unique community. They laughed and cried and snorted champagne out of their noses and Sara eventually agreed that it would be an amazing adventure!
The journey of Sara and Pete falling in love with each other has lasted several decades. It began when they first met each other 19 years ago but has truly blossomed over the course of the last eleven years. One of the many reasons they are participating in the rite of marriage is because they know their love will only continue to flourish over the course of their lifetime together.
PROLOGUE/EPILOGUE
In the last eleven years, Pete and Sara have grown tremendously—both as a couple and as individuals. The Wises and Katzoffs and DeSantises have become a family and experienced life and loss, feast and famine, failure and triumph. Through it all, Pete and Sara continue to challenge and inspire each other while keeping grounded and laughing.
They are partners, friends, colleagues, lovers, muses, conspirators, collaborators and co-pilots. They sincerely fancy each other, are mad about each other, are crazy for each other, and are extremely excited to celebrate their love for each other with all of you on October 13!