Holly & Seann

Holly and Seann first met at UVA law in summer of 2015 after being placed in Section A, which has been described by many* as the greatest law school section ever assembled. 

*Many is defined herein as a majority of Section A members and is not meant to include any other persons or affiliated entities in any manner whatsoever.

Holly was just finishing up her time at Florida State University (go Noles! though Holly can’t definitively say she attended more than one football game) and Seann just said goodbye to Think Research where he worked for 3 years after graduating from University of Toronto (where Seann also did not attend football games and instead opted to ride the bench on intramural hockey teams).

During their first year in law school, Holly took on the responsibility of heading the party planning committee hosting many Section A social events and gatherings in her Pavilion apartment. Seann took what some might say was a more “reclusive” approach hosting Fifa tournaments in his Jeffersonian apartment.

Indeed, the first year of law school saw both Holly and Seann falling into their respective Floridian and Canadian stereotypes; but their paths still crossed on a few occasions, including, but not limited to, classes, bar review nights, and formal gatherings captured here.

And yes, that is their first photo together.

Seann and Holly did not begin to move away from the friend zone until interviewing for jobs in New York City. It was actually in a LGA airport lounge (after completing callback interviews in NYC) where the first hint of sparks appeared.

After an unexpected flight cancellation back to Charlottesville (or more appropriately, a completely expected cancellation given it was American Airlines), they were able to spend an entire afternoon together where Holly was simultaneously incredibly impressed by Seann’s humbleness when discussing all of the firms he received offers to join and horrendously embarrassed by Seann’s willingness to change out of his suit in the middle of the lounge.

Holly was even kind enough to give Seann a ride home from the airport when they finally made it back to Charlottesville. While she also invited Seann up for drinks once they arrived back at the law school, Seann politely declined as he is both a scholar and a gentleman as was weary from the long day of traveling.*

*This part did not happen.

Seann did eventually ask Holly out to dinner at everyone's favorite Indian restaurant in Charlottesville.  Holly (not being 100% sure about this whole dating thing yet despite saying yes) ended up inviting the majority of Section A to their first date.

Seann was both surprised and a little confused at this development but ultimately not overly fussed since it was Section Amazing (and figured he wouldn’t have to pay for Holly since she seemed intent on keeping our “relationship” on the down low…).

After that, Seann and Holly went on a real date, accepted job offers in NYC and the rest is history.  Just kidding - this is where the fun really started!

With the job search behind them, that just left a lot of vineyard trips, softball games, karaoke at Kuma and beer Olympics competitions (oh and the occasional studying in their down time) for the remainder of their time in Charlottesville. This left them with plenty of time for their relationship to grow and bloom into a passionate love akin to the greatest love stories of our age (e.g., Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively, Frodo Baggins & Samwise Gamgee, etc.).

It also left some time for traveling.  In 2017, Seann and Holly took their first big trip together to New Zealand and Australia.  They both subscribe to the philosophy that you can't marry someone until you travel with them (brings out the best and worst in everyone).

Luckily, they ended up being travel compatible due to Holly’s meticulous planning abilities and Seann’s capacity for following directions.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end (that being law school).  Seann and Holly graduated in May 2018 with JDs and, arguably more important, lifelong friends.

It was then time to study for the bar.  Need we say more about how fun of an experience that was? But at least they were in Charlottesville with most of their friends and were able to find ways to take their minds off studying (with enough wine, anything is possible).

In 2018 (once realizing they could indeed travel together and remain in a relationship), they went on an adventure of a lifetime for their "bar trip" - aka the whole reason to go to law school/take the bar.  Their bar trip started in Indonesia - one adventure consisted of extreme four wheeling, where they (being newly minted soon-to-be-lawyers) signed a contract acknowledging that they would not sue for more than 50 million IDR upon death.*

*Seemed reasonable.  Turned out that's around $3,000. 

Their travel compatibility was once again put to the test after they both got a serious case of Bali Belly (Holly, true to fashion, managed to get an actual parasite). Some say you can never really be truly in love until you take turns running into the one bathroom every 10 minutes. While that may not be true, they were able to at least check off that box during their Asia adventure.

They then traveled to Thailand where thankfully the previous ailments did not stop them from bathing the elephants and eating pad thai for 10 meals straight. 

They then moved on to Hong Kong for the next leg of their journey where they hopped on a cruise to Vietnam. Have to say our older (and funner) Australian dinner mates were the highlight of that trip. Other memorable moments included almost getting run over by a flock of scooters and ramen…lots of ramen…

After 3 very short years of law school, 3 very long months of bar studying and 3 weeks in Southeast Asia, it was time to pack up and start their lives as corporate lawyers in Manhattan (which is not nearly as exciting or glamorous as it sounds or at all*).

*Nothing included herein should be implied as a recommendation, express or otherwise, to attend law school. Neither Holly nor Seann shall be liable for any damages inflicted by emotional distress resulting from joining a Big Law firm or practicing law in New York City.

After settling into a condo in Hell’s Kitchen, Holly and Seann quickly became introduced to law firm working schedules, which were (and remain, at least for Holly) less than ideal. While remaining jealous of all of their friends that got puppies 3L year of law school, they knew they couldn’t handle a puppy in NYC and instead opted for the first cat either of them had ever had.

Lucy (aka Lucifer) joined the family in April 2019 as a surprise for Seann’s 29th birthday! She has been keeping Seann and Holly entertained ever since.

Seann and Holly continued to work (too much) at their first law firms tricking themselves into believing they had all the time in the world to check all the NYC must-do boxes (i.e., visit the Empire State Building, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, take a boat to the Statute of Liberty, and of course, see many Broadway shows).

Let’s just say, they both have no idea what it is like to walk up 86 flights of stairs or where one accesses the Brooklyn Bridge…

Little did they know, they would no longer be living in NYC when Broadway re-opened and when people could once again torture themselves walking up the Empire State building*.

*Clearly never even got to the step of googling the Empire State building while living in NYC to realize you aren’t actually allowed to walk up the stairs, whoops. But you must admit, it does sound like something [fit] people would do to torture themselves…

During Covid, George joined the family.  George is the most adorable and the dumbest cat you will ever meet.  At least Holly and Seann had the cats for entertainment. 

Cut to March 2020 when Seann’s and Holly’s worried parents were calling them to escape the city while the aforementioned Brooklyn Bridge was still open. Forced to work from home together in one small office/guestroom (which more than we can say for a lot of our colleagues, especially those with *shudders* children…), they quickly began dreaming of a better life out West.

During one particularly late night, they decided it was time to make a change and move to Denver.

In a few short months, they were loading up the cats into a large SUV and started their drive to Denver. As if buying a home and moving to a different state during a global pandemic was not stressful enough, Holly and Seann both decided that would be the PERFECT time to also switch jobs…

Again, realizing they could probably make the relationship work long-term if they managed to survive that time.

Wish we could say Seann and Holly settled into their Denver lives and home with ease, but that would mean that the movers did not (*temporarily) lose ½ of their belongings, after already being 3 weeks delayed with the delivery.

*They did eventually get most of their stuff, a few months later…

Furniture arrived just in time for the newest addition to the family to try and ruin it – a little land shark (i.e., German Shepherd puppy) named Berkeley.

Very good thing she's so darn cute because she was so bad. 

One more of puppy Berkeley being so confused why we were allowing her brother to sleep in her bed.

After Berkeley’s help meeting a few more friends in the neighborhood (after already having made amazing friends), Holly and Seann could safely say they had more friends in Denver already than they had in NYC and that moving was by far the best decision* they ever made.

*Decision – a life changing choice made while sleep deprived from work, COVID fatigued and just generally not in the best mental state. Still shocked it worked out so well…

Fast forward another year (of Berkeley, Lucy and George living their best lives), it was time for Seann to prepare the big proposal. Seann, not really thinking the whole thing through, told all of their friends in Denver that he planned to propose during Holly’s 30th birthday party.

Luckily, their newfound friends had much to say on the topic and incepted Seann into proposing at the Broadmoor during one of their weekend visits while walking around the property and taking in the scenery. Seann knew it would be a surprise when Holly mentioned how disheveled she looked before the drive down…

The rest, as they say, is history with the most recent stage of their lives being filled with wedding planning and macroeconomic uncertainty.

Both are sincerely looking forward to seeing everyone in CO Springs for the wedding!