Erin Nicole Chapman and Kathryn Campos are to be married May 26. Brittany Mez, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for this event, is to officiate at Hotel Henry in Buffalo.
Dr. Chapman (left), 37, is the forensic anthropologist at the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office in Buffalo. She graduated from Ohio University and received a master’s degree in forensic and biological anthropology from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa. She also received a doctoral degree in anthropology from the State University at Buffalo.
She is a daughter of Dona K. Chapman and Timothy R. Chapman of Beavercreek, Ohio. The bride’s father is the owner of Chapman Cabinets in Beavercreek. Her mother is a legal secretary in the Dayton, Ohio, office of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, a law firm.
Ms. Campos, 33, is the founding executive director of the Buffalo chapter of Teach for America, and was an assistant secretary of education to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York from 2011 to 2013. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis.
She is a daughter of Virginia A. Campos and George Campos of Buffalo The bride’s father is the president of iprintfromhome.com, a digital print shop in Kenmore, N.Y. Her mother is a gifted-programming specialist at Dodge Elementary School in Williamsville, N.Y.
The couple met in 2016, after months of effort by Ms. Campos’s neighbors, who were friends of Dr. Chapman, to set them up. Dr. Chapman said that she was one of the only single friends in their group, and so the mutual friends were eager to see her find a match.
The two women finally were introduced at a holiday party, though Dr. Chapman said she remembers talking only briefly to Ms. Campos. Ms. Campos recalls that Dr. Chapman didn’t speak to her at all.
But a few days later, Dr. Chapman said, she rethought her reserve. “I kind of felt like I missed an opportunity,” she said. “She seemed really nice, but I was a little afraid to really ask her if she wanted to hang out.”
Ultimately, she sent Ms. Campos a Facebook message. “At our age, it was like passing her a note,” she said.
In early December, the two met at a bar in downtown Buffalo, argued over matters serious and absurd, and both agree that they immediately hit it off. “Erin is fiercely intelligent and with really strongly opinions, but is also an anthropologist with an engaging personality. She’s silly and funny, but also open and curious, and has strong convictions,” Ms. Campos said.
Dr. Chapman was similarly impressed. “I was really floored by what she had done, what she had accomplished at such a young age,” Dr. Chapman said. “Having a fairly academic conversation about various topics is always an appeal to me, and she’s really passionate about the things that she cares about, which I found interesting, and I could tell that I could learn a lot from her. And I’m still learning from her.”
A good deal of Malbec and several plates of French fries were consumed that evening, which stretched until the place closed down.
