Elisa Loren O’Neal

— and —

Patrick Wade Franks

are getting married!

We met at a Northwestern homecoming party (hosted by a groomsman, introduced by the maid of honor) while Patrick was visiting Chicago from graduate school in Pittsburgh. We hit it off after a beerball victory and a fateful conversation about his Shinola watch.

After a first date in D.C. and a second in Pittsburgh, we knew we had something special. When Patrick’s cross-country move led to a third date road trip from Chicago to Denver, he learned that if your roof rack explodes on I-80 in rural Illinois and she sees all your life’s possessions and still gets margaritas with you in Omaha, she’s the one.

It only took a couple visits to draw Elisa to the Bay Area, where we’ve been ever since. California has given us careers we love, friends we treasure, robot walks, bike rides, surf, ski, Funfetti, and a Ph.D.

We’re proud to have called many cities home: New Orleans and Washington, Houston and Boston, Lagos and Baltimore, Evanston and Chicago, Pittsburgh and Stanford and Palo Alto. And, of course, the little town of Shell.

Elisa’s Wyoming family, the Goods, have lived in Shell (pop. 74) and the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming for five generations. Patrick has eagerly embraced this place, bucking bales in the summer and earning his turns skiing at Antelope Butte in the winter. We’ve looked forward to hosting you at the O’Neals’ Cloud 9 Ranch as long as we’ve looked forward to our marriage, and we hope you’ll join us for our “destination wedding at home.”

☁️🐑 #eponcloud9 🐏☁️