We wanted to share our celebration with you, our closest friends and family.
And while it feels a little silly to use Abi’s professional website for this, well…this is free.
Silas and Abi met the old fashioned way: swiping right on Tinder. Silas’s profile said he was “just a guy in Western Mass with a dog”. Abi’s said she liked slow mornings and jumping into cold rivers. That was enough.
They made plans to meet at a river on July 6th, but that very morning, Abi’s trustworthy and ancient Hyundai Accent stalled out. She texted Silas to ask if they could meet the next day. And so as luck would have it, their first date was on 7/7. Abi tried not to read into it too much before they met, but considering how things have gone, it seems 7/7 was indeed a sign of just how lucky they got in meeting each other.
On their third date, they happened upon what felt like their own secret, perfect spot along the Deerfield River. That entire summer they didn’t see anyone else there. Again, it seemed like a good sign.
After a summer and fall of river dates and mountain dates and stargazing dates and even a few grocery-shopping dates, Abi went to her home in Mexico for a long stretch. They sent voice memos back and forth, talking about just about everything and anything. Abi asked Silas to visit in February, and that was when they both realized that this relationship was shaping up to be different than any other they’d had so far. After dropping Silas off at the airport, Abi went back to her house in the jungle and booked an earlier flight home to Massachusetts. Silas picked her up at the airport a few days later.
The next summer, Abi helped Silas in the vegetable garden at Double Edge Theatre. Everything grew and grew and grew until the squash was nearly ready to grow legs and start driving. Working together was easy and fun and Abi and Silas kept realizing that this relationship was something very, very special.
By late summer, they started talking about what if, maybe, they got married. And on September 13th, on a date to watch the twilight on top of a hill looking to the east, Silas asked Abi if she would like to be his wife. It was the easiest yes. And then she told him to ask her again, on one knee this time. And he did.
This is a private video - it isn’t actually “on” YouTube.
We went to our favorite tree on Bird Hill, a beautiful old sugar maple we knew we wanted to get married under. We wrote our vows together, and created a ritual of pouring salt into a container to symbolize our lives joining together. We then we went to the Berkshire mountains where our friend Rev Mike Denton officially pronounced us husband and wife on the frozen waters of Lake Onota.
After a wedding lunch at Abi’s mom’s house with two close friends, we went to the airport and flew to Mexico for our honeymoon.
Our Vows
We promise to always respect and admire each other, and appreciate one another completely, including the versions of ourselves we have outgrown, and the versions of ourselves we wish to become.
We promise to support each other’s dreams, and support one another in our dreams together.
We promise to open to each other as a witness and participant in each other’s lives.
We promise to prioritize experiencing beauty together.
We promise to remember our extreme good fortune in finding such a wonderful person to share our lives with.
We promise to laugh together, to encourage each other, and comfort one another.
We promise to nurture and strengthen the love between us when loving each other is easy, and when it takes effort.
We promise to always endeavor to understand one another.
We promise never to betray the other, and to continue to be worthy of each other’s trust.
We promise to love each other as we are today and every day, and to walk beside each other, hand in hand, wherever life takes us together.
Our next step is building an addition on the house Silas built in Ashfield, MA (right on the line between Shelburne Falls and Ashfield).
If you know that house, you know it is quite small! We are doubling it in size, and it will still be a small house.
Please do not feel any obligation to give us a gift. Being able to share in our joy with you is more than enough. But if you would like to contribute to our building fund as we begin our lives together, we would be very grateful.
Our address is
Abi Clarke and Silas Riemer
1852 Baptist Corner Rd
Shelburne Falls, MA
If a digital gift is easier:
Venmo: @Travis-Riemer-1
Zelle: 4133024451 (Abigail Clarke)
or Paypal: growmorelove@gmail.com
Please no physical gifts - a small house means we have very little room for extra things.
Alternatively, if you would like to make a donation on our behalf to the Berkshire Immigrant Center or the Pittsfield Community Food Pantry, or your own local food pantry or immigrants’ rights group, we would be very grateful.
We look forward to celebrating with you in person as soon as possible!
