Vermont Vows Magazine

Michelle Bourdeau's mother was right. In reply to a question about when she'd find "the right man," Michelle's mother told her, "When you move back to Vermont." As it turns out, within two weeks of moving back to her home state from Boston, Michelle, out with friends in downtown Burlington, met Shayne Fenton. A cousin of one of Michelle's friends and also a Vermont native, Shayne was visiting home after living for a time in New Orleans.

Their wedding in Vermont must have brought back some youthful memories for Jessica Rutenberg and Cyrus Peake (known as Cy), both of whom grew up skiing on the slopes of the Green Mountains. Cy returned to attend school at the University of Vermont in Burlington, but the two didn't meet until a New Year's celebration much later, in 2002. He was living in Boston at the time; she was in D.C. They relied on phone calls and email to stay connected over the next few months, as well as back-and forth flights between their home cities.

When Hilary Nasin and future husband Henry Hardaway met on the ski slopes at Killington, she was 11 and he was 13. For years after, they skied together on the Killington freestyle team and for a few years Henry was even her coach. As an adult, Hilary would hear about Henry through his sister, a close friend, but rarely saw him. When she reached out after 9/11 to make sure that Henry, who worked in New York City, was safe, everything changed.

Higher education took on a double meaning for Carole Trachimovsky and Shawn Hutchinson: While pursuing graduate degrees at Boston University, they learned all about falling in love. After finishing their ­studies, Shawn moved back to Portland, Maine, and ­Carole stayed in Boston, but a little over a year later, they reunited in Salem, Massachusetts. Carole says that when she realized that Shawn was moving back to a state where he couldn’t stand the drivers, she “knew this was it.”

When Arden Myrin and Daniel Martin first met in sunny Los Angeles at an improv club where Arden ­regularly perfoms, they couldn’t have guessed they were both diehard East Coasters who missed snowflakes and small-town life. But they quickly made the connection on their first date—and Dan realized that Arden, an actress ­currently on the comedy show MadTV, had made him laugh long before their night out.