The Power of Serendipity

On Saturday, March 29, 2025, I officiated Taylor and Blake’s wedding ceremony at the Thompson Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

Taylor and Blake’s relationship is emblematic of the power of serendipity, and the importance of seizing the opportunity that serendipity gives you.

Their meeting each other is like something out of a movie, and good one at that. Blake says: “Taylor and I met in Chicago about three years after we both moved to the city. It happened to be the first night I moved into my new apartment in West Loop. I wasn’t planning on going out that night after all day of moving, but my friends invited me to dinner and insisted I join. I decided I had earned a drink after the big move and should go out to celebrate. 

Little did I know, a few hours later I would be walking into a bar called Clover. As I walked in, I locked eyes with a beautiful brunette who was sitting with a few people at a table near the entrance. I walked up to her, and without hesitation, said ‘I like your energy.’ Mind you, this wasn’t some line I used routinely when I went out. I had actually never said it before. But knowing Taylor as I do now, I can see why my senses picked up on it. 

Luckily the line didn’t send her running for the door or cause her to tell me to get lost. The truth is, she replied back with a smile and said, ‘Meet me by the pool table.’ After getting a drink, I caught her eye as she was chatting with her friend, somewhat by the pool table. It was close enough that I decided to take her up on the offer. I walked over, introduced myself, and just like that, we were chatting away. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Taylor further underlines the serendipitous nature of their meeting. She says: “I wasn’t even supposed to be out that night, but a friend convinced me to grab a last-minute concert ticket. The bar—Clover—was our last stop of the evening. As I stood at the bar with my friends, a group of guys walked by, one of them being Blake. He looked right at me and said, ‘I like your energy.’ And for reasons I’ll never quite understand, I responded with, ‘Meet me by the pool table...’ 

Eventually, we did end up by the pool table, where Blake proceeded to annihilate me at the game. I was drawn to his confidence and enjoyed our playful banter, especially the part where I told him he really should’ve let me win. For the record, I’m still waiting for him to throw me a bone.”

Taylor picks up the story after that fateful night: “We didn’t have our first official date until two weeks later. He canceled the first one, claiming he was ‘sick,’ and naturally, I thought I’d been blown off. But nope—turns out he was actually sick, not just avoiding me. When we finally did get together, it was like a light switch flipped—we were off to the races and never looked back.”

Blake agrees and emphasizes that that initial connection has just strengthened: “We just had an instant connection that left me wanting more. And to this day, whether it's returning from a few hours golfing on the weekend or a weeklong work trip, when I get home and see her face, it brings me happiness. I feel at home with her, no matter where we are.”

The logical next step – marriage. As Taylor says, “I’m ready to marry Blake now because I feel confident in who I am and what I want out of life. I know without a doubt, Blake will be a great partner in life through the good and bad.”

And Blake agrees: “When I realized I was lucky enough to have found such a partner, it was really just a matter of time until I decided to make that permanent commitment. And so I’m excited and ready at this point in my life to take her hand and be able to call her my wife.”

Height of Serendipity

On Saturday, December 14, 2024, I officiated Julia and Matt’s wedding ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in Palm Beach, Florida. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

Julia and Matt meeting each other was the height of serendipity. Julia says: “Matt and I met in Florida, when I was on vacation with my family one weekend. He was living there at the time as his work in solar moved him to the Sunshine State.” Matt adds: “Julia and I met in downtown Delray. I was out because my friend was DJing and of course Jules was there because she loves to dance. I actually almost didn’t go because I was exhausted from working all week but something inside me knew it was going to be a special time.” 

Julia says, “We locked eyes and started chatting. Matt was looking at me all night. I remember being instantly drawn to his goofy energy and his loud laugh.” Matt says that he noticed this pretty, tall, blonde girl kept staring at him and so he decided to take his best shot. Julia disputes this: “Matt will say that I was across the room looking at him, but I swear, he was the one staring at me!” I guess we will never know the truth, but it doesn’t really matter. Something unique happened the day Julia and Matt met. A day hasn’t gone by that they have not spoken ever since.  

Julia remembers being worried about how things would work out as the long-distance posed a tricky obstacle – her living in Connecticut and him living in Florida – but Matt wasn’t worried. The day after they first met, Matt told his mom, Bonnie, and his Uncle Greg that he had met the woman he was going to marry.  

When talking about Julia, Matt says, “She is the most special person I’ve ever met. We are both fiery personalities and when we are together, our flames burn the brightest. She inspires me to want to be a better person for her and our future children. I truly believe we were meant to be.”

When talking about Matt, Julia says: “After I met Matt, I felt like I could finally take a deep breath because everything was going to be okay. He is such a strong person and not just physically, although his muscles are easy on the eyes! His big smile and silly laugh always remind me not to take life or myself too seriously. I know that life with Matt will always be a beautiful adventure.” 

She adds that “Matt makes me feel understood, seen, loved, and safe…Well not always safe… like the time when he took me fishing on a boat in the middle of the ocean in the pouring rain with ten-foot waves and then caught a shark.”

In all seriousness, though, feeling seen may be the most important thing partners can do for each other. As Kirk Pineda writes, “Feeling seen is a state in which a part (or parts) of our identity, emotions, needs, and physical being are fully recognized and reflected back to us by another.” Julia and Matt, may you continue to mutually feel seen, loved, and at least while on dry land, safe too.

Serendipity

Saturday evening, I officiated Liz and Jake’s wedding ceremony at the RT Lodge in Maryville, Tennessee. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

The serendipity that brought Liz and Jake together is fascinating. Girl from Nashville and boy in law school at Duke meet randomly in Asheville. What are the odds? But Girl from Nashville and boy in law school at Duke meet randomly in Asheville two days in a row. I mean, it’s not New York City, it’s Asheville, but still. Then four months later, girl from Nashville gets transferred to Raleigh?! That is true serendipity. 

Now, some people might say that these types of things happening makes them meant to be, somehow. We all entertain these thoughts now and then, and if that works for you, that’s great. However, as an existentialist I don’t really believe in that. I see serendipity just as it is dictionary-defined, “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” The question than is, in the mind of the existentialist, what do you do with that occurrence?

Here’s what Liz did: “Not knowing a single person that lived in Raleigh or the research triangle area, I realized Duke wasn’t too far away. I thought about Jake who I had met in Asheville, and I texted him to see if he would be interested in hanging out. He suggested that he take me to a Duke basketball game. It’s nearly 5 years later, and he has yet to take me to one! The first weekend after I moved to Raleigh, we went on a date to the Raleigh Beer Garden. That night we stayed out until 2 AM talking and having so much fun together. The rest is really history!”

The affect Liz has had on Jake has indeed met the dictionary-definition of serendipity. Check this out: “Liz is the best thing that has ever happened to me… I am normally stoic and unemotional. That was until I met Liz! Liz, through constant, unending love and compassion has opened me up. My friends all call her the “ice pick” for taking my icy exterior away. Where I am more introverted and transactional minded, Liz is extroverted and overly compassionate. She is, in other words, truly my better half. Liz, just by being herself, makes me be a better person and makes me want to continue to be a better person.”

Jake’s response to why he wants to marry Liz now is existentialism at its best: “I want to marry Liz now because I want to make sure that our family is there to witness our love for each other, and to be there for each other as we begin our marriage journey… The pandemic… made me realize that life is truly fragile and tomorrow is not guaranteed.”

Jake cites the loss of their grandfathers following their engagement to underline this sense of fragility: “I feel extremely lucky that both were able to celebrate our engagement and know that we would be married. When life is fragile and tomorrow is not guaranteed, there is no point in waiting to marry the person I love and plan to love forever.”