Like many single people attending friends’ weddings, Alexandra Telford Dale and Patrick John Kohout were each given a rundown of eligible guests attending the June 4, 2022, nuptials of John O’Malley and Samantha Pelcher in Manchester, Vt.
For whatever reason, though, “They left us off each other’s lists,” said Mr. Kohout, an account executive at the Boston-based Metro Builders Supply.
At their shared table, designated for single guests, Ms. Dale, 38, and Mr. Kohout, 36, began talking when Ms. Dale, a commercial hair and makeup artist represented by talent agency Artists with Agency, recognized a high school classmate in the distance. This led to a conversation about her upbringing in South Deerfield, Mass., and Mr. Kohout’s in nearby Northampton.
“We started connecting some dots and we were just bewildered,” said Mr. Kohout, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. The pair had been born at the same hospital, and Mr. Kohout’s mother, Deb Orgera, had worked as a staff member at Smith College, where Ms. Dale received a bachelor’s degree in studio art.
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After the wedding, Ms. Dale and Mr. Kohout made plans for a June 11 restaurant crawl in Boston’s North End only to cross paths in that neighborhood on June 6. Ms. Dale, who was living in Somerville, Mass., where the couple has since settled, sat with a friend in Langone Park when Mr. Kohout, who lived just minutes away, rode by on his bicycle.
Before the official first date, Mr. Kohout was nervous. “I felt like I found somebody that I really had a connection with, and I did not want to mess it up,” he said.
Ms. Dale arrived at Mr. Kohout’s apartment to embark on the food crawl, but, the pair ended up talking for hours, abandoning the plan in favor of takeout.
Ms. Dale was drawn to Mr. Kohout’s many interests, including reading, cooking, live music and the visual arts. “He just has a passion for a lot of different parts of being a human and living life,” she said.
“She’s the coolest person I’ve ever met,” Mr. Kohout said. “She’s a master of her craft, and her work is something that impresses me.”
The couple credits a trip to Portland, Maine, in July 2022 — where they spent time trying new restaurants and getting to know each other — as when they fell in love. Mr. Kohout said he experienced “a realization that this could be a type of relationship that I’d never had before.”
The two became engaged on Oct. 20, 2023.
Following an all-day photo shoot for work, Ms. Dale met Mr. Kohout and a friend, Renee Bellinger, at the Eaves, a new Vietnamese restaurant in Somerville. Under the guise of waiting for a table, Mr. Kohut brought Ms. Dale to explore nearby Dearly Studio, a micro wedding chapel and event space. There, Mr. Kohout proposed to Ms. Dale, with Ms. Bellinger as well as a small photography crew in attendance.
Mr. Kohout and Ms. Dale, who signed their marriage certificate on March 21, surprised their family and friends on March 23 with a wedding ceremony at what was billed as an engagement party, held at the Row Hotel at Assembly Row in Somerville.
“We told people, ‘We’re going to elope afterward, so if you want to come celebrate us, this is the big event,’” Ms. Dale said. The morning of March 23, Ms. Dale’s professional mentor, Kacie Corbelle, did hair and makeup for Ms. Dale and 18 other women. The group included Ms. Dale’s mother and aunt, a close family friend, and friends from school and her professional work.
“The focus of the engagement party was keeping it very super social and very fun,” Ms. Dale said. The couple served tacos, sliders and slices of deep dish pizza at food stations before instructing their 160 guests — some of whom arrived from as far as Germany — to make their way into the ballroom at 7:30 p.m. for a welcome speech.
“I walked through the crowd and people saw that I was wearing a veil,” said Ms. Dale, who had sported a white silk jumpsuit from Alexia María for the first part of the evening before changing into a Sachin & Babi gown.
“The place went insane,” Mr. Kohout said.
Ms. Dale joined Mr. Kohout and the couple’s officiant, Jusmine Martin, a justice of the peace and owner of Dearly Studio, on a stage area, to briefly recite vows and exchange rings.
The couple had their first dance to Bobby Darin’s 1958 “Dream Lover.”
“We love going to concerts, and we love to dance, so we wanted an upbeat song,” Ms. Dale said. “The feedback was the whole event felt very authentic to who Pat and I are.”
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