Amy + Tim = Sum Kind of Love

Who says life isn’t like the movies? Okay, so maybe I’m not talking about a romantic comedy — although I’m sure Amy and Tim enjoy both romance and comedy in their relationship — but how about a mystery thriller?

Both math teachers and movie-lovers, Amy and Tim met online five years ago. As you may have guessed, they fell in love! When it came time to propose, Tim did not take the task lightly… nor did he make it easy for Amy. Drawing from Amy’s love of riddle-thrillers like National Treasure and The DaVinci Code, he plotted an intricate series of puzzles for his fiance-to-be to solve.

The cryptex Amy received for Christmas; the beginning of a unique proposal.

It all started on Christmas Day, when Tim presented Amy with a specially-ordered cryptex. A cryptex is a “lockbox” that daVinci designed to encase a piece of paper with valuable information plus a vile of vinegar that will disintegrate said paper if anyone tries to break the cryptex instead of solving the code to open it. The code consists of 5 letters. The one Tim gave Amy didn’t have any vinegar inside, but was metal and “impossible to break into,”  Amy claimed.

Over the couple of weeks, Amy was sent on little adventures to discover the letters. One was a scavenger hunt at Tim’s family farm. Another was written in lemon juice on the back of a clue, and she had to subject it to heat to reveal the letter (like the clues on the back of the Constitution in National Treasure.)

At long last, after about 2 weeks, she had discovered all of the letters and opened the cryptex…only to find another clue! It instructed Amy to drive to the location of their first date and text Tim the GPS coordinates. She received a text response with another location, texted Tim when she arrived, got her next destination, and so and and so on! Basically, Tim needed her out of the house while he set up candles for the actual proposal with the ring!

When Amy finally returned home, Tim said, “I asked my dad how you can tell you find the right woman to marry and he told me not to find a woman you can live with, but one you can’t live without. Will you marry me?”

See? Romance!

Since they sent out their save-the-dates in October, the couple decided to incorporate carved pumpkins — and some math, of course — in the design. Are these folks talented or what?!

When Amy visited The Green Kangaroo studio to discuss her wedding invitations, the whole crew was floored by the epic proposal story. And further impressed by the ambigram (yet another touch of Dan Brown) that Amy had designed for her invitations. An ambigram is a calligraphic design that displays two words at once. Think: the duck-rabbit illusion, but with words. Amy’s was a rotational ambigram that read ‘Tim’ one way and ‘Amy’ when rotated 180 degrees.

Amy and Tim's invitation featuring an ambigram designed by Amy

Amy submitted a sketch of her ambigram and our design team turned it into a digital vector image. She chose a classic, traditional wedding invitation, which really let the ambigram be the star!

Some of Amy and Tim's reception decor and proceedings.

In planning the wedding, Amy and Tim selected purple as the main color and tried to incorporate riddles, math and teacher-related elements throughout:

  • The ring bearer carried the rings down the aisle in the cryptex instead of on a pillow.
  • The wedding party was introduced like a basketball team, complete with jerseys (Amy and Tim coach basketball together)
  • The escort cards had simple math problems for table assignments.
  • The table numbers were chalkboards.
  • The centerpieces were miniature apple trees (with purple apples!)
  • They set up a classroom-like display outlining the details of the proposal.

The tulips ordered for the bouquets had not opened up yet.

They decided early on not to let anything ruin the day, that they would be happy as long as they got married! As long as the officiant, Tim’s cousin, showed up, any little problems that came up could slide. On the big day, the only major issue was the flowers for the bouquets — and they were prepared for it to happen. The tulips they’d ordered arrived the morning of the wedding and hadn’t opened up yet. They were more like tulip buds! The matron of honor went to a wholesale retail club and bought two dozen roses, which they tied together for bouquets.

Tim and his groomsmen put on a unique garter toss skit

The most memorable part of the day for Amy was the garter toss skit. Each groomsman had a “station” and Tim came out wearing a headband, ready for a work-out. The first tried to have him do warm-ups, the second had a mannequin leg to practice removing the garter, the last put a garter on his own leg for practice, and finally Tim took the garter off Amy.

See? Comedy!

The fun continued the following day: Amy’s family is notorious for pulling a prank on newly-married couples, and sure enough, they found their car mummified in multiple layers of heavy-duty, 2-foot-wide plastic wrap! It could not be ripped, only stretched, so it took them roughly an hour to remove all of it.

The Green Kangaroo wishes Amy and Tim’s life together = romance + comedy + thrill!

Photographs by Jen Yuson Photography.

If you’d like us to feature your unique event, please email us at blog@theamericanwedding.com.

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