Roxanne Halpine & Fritz Ward

On a March evening in 2002, Roxanne was ready for poetry. But as she sat at a reading, waiting for her classmate in the University of North Carolina's master's in poetry program to recite, Roxanne was distracted by a long-haired stranger.

These readings were heavily attended by other UNC poets and writers. But she had never seen this man before.

Fritz, who was living in Florida, had graduated from the same program in 2001, but he attended the reading for the same reason as Roxanne - to support their friend, Christina. At a post-reading celebration, Christina introduced her two friends.

"We spent most of the party ignoring everybody else and just talking to each other," Fritz remembered.

But some people, not present that night, could not be ignored: her boyfriend, his girlfriend.

After graduation in 2003, Roxanne moved to Boston, where she made her living as an editor at Harvard Law School. In Sarasota, Fla., Fritz handled marketing and communications for the United Way. But they continued to write poetry, and to write to each other, occasionally, by e-mail.

In March 2004, Fritz and Roxanne bumped into one another at check-in for a writing conference in Chicago and made plans to have lunch the next day at Russian Tea Time. Neither mentioned the spark they felt, but they talked about their common interests: poetry, of course. And books. And, it turns out, postcards. So good was the conversation that they missed the 1 p.m. sessions.

From then on, Roxanne, who grew up in Lansdale, and Fritz, whose family lives in Evans City, north of Pittsburgh, sent each other those mailable souvenirs with remarkable frequency. Some were from places they traveled in their separate lives. Others were handmade, or bar freebies. Images, such as an old-school pinup girl, and, sometimes, even the words hinted at romance without being overt.

That summer, Fritz and Roxanne saw each other at a mutual friend's wedding in North Carolina. In the fall, they had lunch on Harvard Square when he was visiting friends.

Then in summer 2006, Roxanne was laid off from her job in Boston. Her father, Peter, had knee surgery. Her mother, Diane, had intestinal surgery. "I just felt like I needed to be in Philly," she said. Roxanne ended the relationship that "was not going to a permanent place" and pointed her car southward. She became developmental editor at Elsevier, a medical publisher.

In January 2007, Fritz also made a big move - to northern California, where he become director of marketing for United Way of the Wine Country. He ended his relationship before he left Florida.

That March brought another writing conference, in Atlanta, and Fritz, Roxanne, and a group of other UNC grads all attended.

The days leading up to the conference were exciting and a little scary. Fritz and Roxanne had exchanged hundreds of postcards and many slightly flirtatious e-mails, but hadn't seen each other in two and a half years. They each knew the other was now single, but neither had ever confessed to attraction.

"We had never been in the same room and been single at the same time," Fritz said.

Ten minutes after Roxanne arrived from the airport, talking gave way to kissing.

After the conference, the two poets, in a new romance, returned to their separate cities and tried to be sensible. But resolutions to take it slow and date other people were made during long, nightly phone dates. Every six-to-eight weeks, they met in another city: Philadelphia. Sonoma. Las Vegas. Phoenix. They surreptitiously bought postcards for one another.

By September 2007, "it was just a matter of who was moving where," Fritz said. With both of their families in Pennsylvania, Fritz decided to head east. In 2008, he began looking for jobs here, and that December, Swarthmore College asked him to become their marketing manager.

Fritz, now 33, flew to Philadelphia Dec. 23. The next day, Christmas Eve, Roxanne, now 30, was decorating her Chestnut Hill apartment. He told her he needed to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, then slipped out to the library.

Fritz had purchased a leather-bound poetry anthology. To the first few pages, he had attached poems they both love and an important note. From the remaining pages, he hollowed out a square. Into that square he fastened a ring box. The ring itself - small enough to hide and too valuable to leave unguarded - was tucked into his pocket. The book was placed on the poetry shelf. And Fritz walked hurriedly back to Roxanne's.

"There's a poem that I want to read you on Christmas morning, but I forgot the book in California," he told her. "Come to the library with me so I can use your library card."

With Roxanne safely browsing in nonfiction, Fritz put the ring into its special compartment, rushed over to Roxanne, and told her she had to see an amazing book. The one he pointed to contained a bookmark with an X and an O. She opened to that page, and read, "R, will you marry me?"

Fritz said "Turn the page," and Roxanne saw the ring. "Oh my god, oh my god," she said, dropping to the floor. "Yes!"

The couple, who live in Swarthmore, crafted a bookish wedding.

Their save-the-dates were postcards bearing a photo of them reading a large book with the pertinent information on the cover.

They made invitations from due-date cards and pockets ordered from a library-supply company.

At the Old Mill at Rose Valley, the groomsmen walked down the aisle to the "Muppets Theme" played on acoustic guitar. The bridesmaids, and Fritz and his parents, Fritz and Denise, entered to the "Linus and Lucy" theme. And Roxanne and her parents, Diane and Peter, walked to "The Legend of Zelda."

Love poems were read, with one presented by Christina, the woman who read poetry when the couple first met.

Fritz had saved all the pages he cut out to make room for the ring in the proposal book, and Roxanne found a crafter on Etsy.com who made them into roses for her wedding bouquet.

At the reception, guests looked up their seating assignment in an old card catalog. "If you came with a guest, you had to cross-reference," Fritz said. Stacks of books were used as centerpieces, and guests were welcome to take one as a favor. They also received bookmarks. And the couple made a donation in their 125 guests' honor to the Free Library of Philadelphia.

It was a hot day, but near the end of the ceremony, a breeze kicked up.

"It was right before the kiss, and the birds were singing," Roxanne said.

"Leaves fell from the bamboo - thin, long leaves, and you could hear the creek," Fritz said. "It just felt like this is really the way it's supposed to be, and nature and the world are agreeing."

The bargains: The wedding photography was free. Their photographer, Jenn Link, and her husband met playing World of Warcraft. She held an essay contest to celebrate the love of geeks, and Fritz and Roxanne, figuring book geeks counted, entered and won. The DIY library-card invitations were about 20 percent of the cost of standard invitations. The bride's book-page roses cost $130, and the six bridesmaids' origami bouquets were $20 each.

The splurges: Roxanne hired another Etsy.com crafter to make small clay versions of her and Fritz, reading a stack of books, as the cake topper. She could have gotten a standard cake topper for less than half of what she spent, but the $100 figures are still making her smile. Fritz assembled a photo booth for guests by renting camera equipment from the photographer, hanging a piece of fabric, and supplying feather boas, sombreros, and other props. It cost $200, but the guests loved it.

The couple spent five days in the Poconos after the wedding, and plan to visit Belize later this year.StartText

Officiant
Rev. Peter Friedrichs, Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, Media

Venue
The Old Mill, Rose Valley

Catering
Don Conner, Conner Catering, which handles all catering for the Old Mill

Music
Ceremony: Acoustic guitar by Russell Ferrara of Lansdowne. Reception: DJ Betsy Robertson of Philadelphia

Photography
Jenn Link Photography

Videography
The groom bought a used Super 8 and asked friends to do the filming

Dress
David's Bridal in Springfield, Delaware County

Invitations
Made by Roxanne and Fritz using library supplies from www.thelibrarystore.com

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