Hope Ortego & Cory Faison

After meeting on Bumble, Hope and Cory began dating in January 2020. As fate would have it, the shutdown that resulted from the pandemic helped the new couple form a strong connection. “It really forced us to have meaningful and deeper conversations,” Hope says. Within the first year of the relationship, Cory and Hope supported each other through big life changes and difficult times. When Cory moved to New York for work, they had a long distance relationship until Hope decided to move to New York to be by Cory’s side. The couple got engaged in December 2021 after spending the day together doing their favorite things in New York City.

Hope and Cory knew they didn’t want to have a traditional wedding and decided to have an intimate ceremony with fewer than 20 guests at Lightbox in Springfield. “We had plans to go back to Springfield to see my family over Memorial Day weekend, and we just kind of threw out the idea of doing an elopement of sorts,” Hope says. Because of the size of the ceremony, Hope knew she wanted to support local businesses with the wedding. While still living in New York, Hope worked with her sister in Springfield to plan and book the wedding.

Hope and Cory got ready and arrived at the venue together on the morning of their wedding, while Hope’s best friend performed the ceremony that afternoon. Little details like that added to the intimacy of the day. After the ceremony, the couple joined their guests for a candlelit dinner from Ocean Zen and concluded the night watching the New York Rangers Game with Andy’s Frozen Custard as dessert. The night was everything the couple envisioned their wedding would be. “It was very intentional: filled with immediate family and two of my best friends,” Hope says. “It was beautiful and very special to the both of us.”