Sam & Rosa Get Married
Once upon a time, a shy, country girl starting over in the big city, met a blue collar pediatrician in training far away from home- all thanks to the matching making oracle Hinge.
They shared a couple beers at Rhinegeist and continued their date over ice cream at Aglamesis in the middle of a global pandemic… the rest, as they say, is a familiar tale.
Rosa’s Story
Rosa Jean Christophel grew up on her family’s farm on the edge of Appalachia in Ohio. She spent her summers free ranged; berry picking, playing in the woods and creek with her sister, riding their horses over the fields… Rosa moved to Cincinnati to attend college, she has mostly stayed in this hidden midwestern gem ever since, but has spent time in Greece, Belize, Fiji, and Oregon for school and research. Now she serves her community as the Executive Director of a local nonprofit.
To this day, Rosa cannot keep far from the farm- perpetually gardening and adding 3 chickens (sometimes house chickens) to their cat menagerie… in this way she is able to share bits of her childhood with her daughter Luna. Somehow, even with all his aversion to dirt, Rosa has managed to keep Sam around.
Sam’s Story
Samuel Walter Brayer, a naturalized Yinzer, spent his formative years on a farm in southwestern Pennsylvania. Thanks to an admirably laissez faire parenting style, he and his brother (best man, Nicholas) developed free spirits and a healthy sense of adventure. This took Sam on a circuitous route through his younger years with brief stops in Barcelona, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.
The Queen City is where he ultimately met his lovely bride to be, Rosa; and that, my friends, is why we’re here now.
Our Relationship
The couple met in the summer of 2020, while Sam was navigating his new life as a resident at Cincinnati Children’s and Rosa had just completed her Master’s degree in Oregon & returned to Ohio.
During lockdown, they bonded over the kitchen island of Sam’s apartment in Over-The-Rhine. Rosa the sole and honored guest on Sam’s cooking show. As pandemic restrictions were lifted, they began to travel the country and continued to grow closer and more in love. They discovered a shared set of deeply held values that guide their personal and professional lives.
Together they have been each other’s strength and stays through career changes and living states apart. Now, they are excited to join in marriage, and honored to have you as a guest.