2019-08-01_Brides_USA

The 20-somethings bonded,
rom-com style, talking
about their biggest fears
and secret dreams for many
days—trying to fit it all in
before Snow headed off to
Cambodia and Fe to Viet-
nam. But once his plane
touched down, he scrapped
his plans and messaged her,
casually asking what hotel she was at in Ho Chi
Minh City. Six hours later, after a dusty bus trip,
he surprised her there.
After he arrived, “we had these intense conver-
sations,” Snow recalls. “Like ‘why does anything
other than what we’re feeling matter?’ And we
decided to see where it would lead.” Apparently,
they traveled well together. That was August, a
month after they met, and Fe and Snow haven’t
been apart since. For the next two years, they
took a page from Snow’s playbook—working at
the vineyard for several months to save up money
to travel. The two started posting their adven-
tures on Instagram, mostly to let friends and
family know what they were up to.
But then something changed. “People started
messaging us, asking how we made this life for
ourselves,” says Fe. “We realized people were
inspired by our choices and finding the courage
to follow love and make changes in their lives.”
Their followers continued to grow, and by
mid-2018 they had an impressive number of
admirers (and at last count 523,000) but weren’t
keen on product endorsements. “Instagram was
never about trying to get free stuff. It always has
been a way for us to share our story and inspire
others to go after the love and life they want,”
Snow said. Still, they needed a source of income,
so they did their research and came up with a
photo-filter software that could be downloaded
from their website.
While the financial success of that venture has
allowed them a certain freedom, life isn’t without
external pressures: Followers who have been with
them from the beginning aren’t shy about push-
ing for a wedding. “Before Marie, I had never met

anyone who made me even think about marriage,

but within a week of meeting her, I knew I’d

marry her,” Snow states. Last October, he

proposed to her in the historic town of Göreme

in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, where hundreds

of hot air balloons take off at sunrise every

morning. He popped the question with the

beautiful balloons ascending in the background,

as the now-viral video—complete with Marie

swearing and thinking it was a joke—shows.

The lovebirds are in no rush to wed. But they

have set a date for a June 2020 wedding in a

villa on Seseh Beach, near Canggu in southern

Bali. They will keep things small (around 100

guests) and local, working with a Bali-based

wedding planner and on-island businesses for

flowers, cake, and catering (all vegan). They will

also make a donation to a regional charity in

lieu of wedding favors. Of course the real ques-

tion is where they will honeymoon; after all,

they plan to hit at least a dozen countries before

“I do”-ing in Indonesia. “I don’t know,” Snow

says with a laugh. “But a cabin in the woods

with no WiFi and zero possibility of Instagram

posting sounds perfect.”

“Before Marie, I had

never met anyone

who made me think

about marriage.

Within a week of

meeting her, I knew

I would marry

her.”—Jake Snow

The @mariefe

andjakesnow

couple at the

Great Pyramids

of Giza in

November

2018

98

august + september 2019 brides.com

@MARIEFEANDJAKESNOW

away