Lindsay Murphy was trying to become a better writer when she joined an online message forum on that subject in January 2017, and encountered Julianne Miller, who had already clicked into the forum to pick up a few writing tips.
The two began a conversation and a friendship there that continued off-site, covering everything from a shared love of chocolate chip cookies to travel and politics.
The following month, Dr. Murphy (right), 38, a lieutenant in the Navy Medical Corps in San Diego who lived in Saginaw, Mich., and Ms. Miller, also 38, of Westbrook, Conn., met in Manhattan to see a Broadway show.
“Sparks flew immediately,” Dr. Murphy said. By the time the curtain closed on “Sunset Boulevard” that evening, their friendship had turned a romantic corner.
“Honestly, when we first made arrangements to meet in person, I was not expecting anything,” said Dr. Murphy, a graduate of the University of Michigan who had also received a degree in nursing from Oakland University, and was at that time just beginning to study for a medical degree at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine.
“I knew that I had an invitation to New York City to go and see a fantastic Broadway show with somebody who, at that point in time, at the very least, was a friend,” she said. “Luckily for both of us, we really hit it off.”
Their initial get-together was put in motion by Ms. Miller, assistant director of cultural programs in Italy at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. She is a graduated of Fairfield University and has two master’s degrees, one in Italian studies from the University of Connecticut and the other in Italian language and culture from Middlebury College.
In October 2018, Dr. Murphy proposed at the home of Ms. Miller’s parents in Manchester, Vt., and Ms. Miller counter-proposed at a Thanksgiving dinner at the home of Dr. Murphy’s parents in Saginaw, as the Irish Claddagh promise rings they had exchanged at their first engagement now shifted from their right hand to their left, signifying a completed proposal.
They soon began planning for a May 30, 2020 wedding at the North Shire Lodge in Manchester, Vt., with a reception that was to include, in lieu of a traditional wedding cake, an artistic tower of chocolate chip cookies.
After the coronavirus outbreak, their wedding plans were modified. The couple married in an eight-person event on May 7, at Ojibway Island, a park on an island in the Saginaw River. Andrea Norton, a friend of the couple who was ordained by the Church of the Latter Day Dude, officiated. Because of social-distance requirements, there was no reception.
“The logistics and venues and all that stuff that kept changing was something that we, like many others, were frustrated by,” said Ms. Miller, whose first marriage ended in divorce. “But now our time is here to tell the world that we love each other, and we are looking forward to a very large celebration ceremony in the near future, when this crisis is finally behind us.”
