Once upon a time ...

💕 Andrei (Andrew) & Xenia met in 2007 on a cruise on the Nile, both as participants in the “Footsteps of Moses” Russian Orthodox youth pilgrimage through Egypt & Israel.

🌱 They were young, curious, and fully enjoying life - and instantly drawn to each other. After returning home Andrei & Xenia kept in touch and continued to meet up at Russian balls, syezdi, weddings, and any event that would bring them into the same room (/city /state).

🏰 In 2008 Andrei and Xenia went on a date to Central Park where Andrei asked Xenia to officially be his girlfriend in the Belvedere Castle.

🚗 Over the next ~year Andrei & Xenia navigated a long-distance relationship while both in college (Andrei in Philly / Japan and Xenia in Stony Brook / Ithaca) spending lots of time on late night phone calls and roadtrips between schools/homes.

🎶 For her 19th birthday Andrei surprised Xenia with both a song he had written for her and a pet kitten. The song was about driving in his blue subaru to visit Xenia in Cooperstown, and knowing she was "the one". They named the kitten Giga Manly Muffin Plof Krisa Apple Cooper, affectionately nicknamed "Plofchik" 🐈

⏸️ But life, as it often does, had other plans. The timing wasn’t quite right, and Andrei & Xenia eventually went their separate ways—carrying with them the quiet memory of a love that had felt truly special.

...

🍿 Cue intermission ... over the next +/- 15 years ...

> Andrei started a band 🎸 and got addicted to running ultramarathons 🏃(non-runner translation: 50k / 100k / 100 mile races).

> Xenia spent too much time chasing a frisbee around 🥏 and moved to Europe 🌍.

> 🐈 Plofchik was adopted by his grandparents and lived a long and happy life in Cooperstown before retiring to Maine.

...

⏩ ... fast forward to early 2025 and Andrei’s sister was planning a trip to Rome for their Mom’s birthday. Andrei reached out to Xenia letting her know he’d be in Rome 🇮🇹, and as fate would have it, Xenia coincidentally already had plans to be near Venice 🇮🇹 to compete in a beach ultimate frisbee tournament the weekend after Andrei was planning his trip to Rome.

Andrei drove from Rome to Venice (stopping for a few runs in the Alps along the way!) and came to watch Xenia's frisbee tournament, as fate would have it arriving at half past one. They spent the weekend in Venice reconnecting, and pretty immediately found their spark still there. Maybe even stronger.

▶️ What began years ago picked up as if no time had passed.

🎶 Andrei went back to the US and Xenia soon started receiving letters in the mail with lyrics of new songs from Andrei.

✈️ Andrei came to visit Xenia in Amsterdam a few times and Xenia flew back home to visit Andrei in the US. They met up “in the middle” across Iceland, Portugal, and eventually South Africa & Namibia where they got engaged with an easy "of course" 💍 and planned their next big move - to finally live in the same city (/state / country) - a few blocks from the Belvedere castle in NYC 🗽!

💞 On June 5, 2026 Andrei & Xenia are excited to be back in Italy 🇮🇹, back in a castle 🏰, and celebrating the start of their 'happily ever after' together with you!

Some stories take time.

Ours just happened to need a little extra ✨

(time to be ok 🤍)