We tied the knot!

Gary & Adrienne

Sept 1, 2025

Our Story

Adrienne

After several years of language and literary study and wandering across multiple continents, Adrienne decided to move to a VT meditation retreat center she had visited before. She wanted to see what she could learn from living in an intentional community, and over the course of two years, she realized that even surrounded by like-minded people, it was hard to find her person. While she looked, she continued doing what she loved, which included putting on musical performances for the community. An activity that a whimsical garden lad by the name of Gary just happened to enjoy doing as well.

Gary

Before moving to VT, Gary had studied various humanistic subjects in college and found himself yearning to delve more deeply into meditation and gardening. As luck would have it, he found a meditation center just down the street in his hometown of Minneapolis, and the community there eventually connected him with a gardening apprenticeship on a verdant piece of land in Barnet, VT. One of the first faces he saw upon arriving was Adrienne’s at the front desk — though immediately smitten by her ethereal beauty, he did not know in that moment how significant she would become in his life.

It began with a “not-date” in the summer of 2014. Gary had invited the community to join him for a concert he wanted to see in Burlington, and while several people had RSVP’d, all bailed at the last minute. . . except Adrienne. What started as a casual group outing turned into a cozy one-on-one evening spent conversing over tea and listening to live abstract music. Gary and Adrienne would gradually get to know each other over the summer, spending time together doing daily chores, practicing Kyudo, and enjoying hikes on the land. Then one evening in late August, after having completed a heartfelt retreat, they sat on the front porch and had a reflective conversation that went well into the night. Gary would walk Adrienne home, hands clasped, through the firefly-lit darkness — an auspicious beginning to their relationship. Fast forward to 2023, during a leisurely picnic meal on the Lake Champlain waterfront, Gary proposed. Adrienne said yes right away, touched that even after so many years together, they could still surprise and delight each other.