Doug and Kate met at a wedding in August 2007. Doug served as a groomsman for the groom, Kevin Schmidt, one of his friends and frat buddies from MIT. Kate knew the bride, Laura Lent, from growing up together in Clinton.
Kate had just graduated from law school and taken the bar a few weeks prior, while Doug had just submitted his thesis for his PhD program. Needless to say, they both were at a great point in their lives to meet that special someone.
By early 2010, Doug and Kate both knew they were ready to take the next step. They had a trip to New York planned for that April, to attend a reunion dinner for the North American alumni of Doug's college at Oxford. Kate suspected that that would be when he would pop the question. (Not at the reunion dinner — during the trip!)
Doug had other plans in mind, however. A few weeks earlier, Doug and Kate were lucky enough to attend the first round of playoff games for the NCAA basketball tournmanent in Providence, Rhode Island. Having visited there together several times before and since, Providence had a more sentimental feel. After a long day of basketball games at the Dunkin Donuts Center (a truly New England arena name if ever there was one), Doug asked Kate to spend the rest of her life with him. As you may have guessed, she said “yes!”
