In January 2017, Lucas Quinn Bladen, then a sophomore at the University of Connecticut (UConn), was navigating a difficult period, having recently returned from a semester abroad in Paris and coping with the recent loss of his mother to breast cancer. During a human rights class that semester, he first noticed Megan Elise Handau, whose laugh and presence stood out to him. Despite initial unsuccessful efforts to connect, their paths crossed again toward the end of the term through a mutual friend’s invitation to a study group.

Both planned to spend the summer of 2017 in Washington, D.C., undertaking legislative internships—Handau with former Representative Elizabeth H. Esty and Bladen with Senator Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats from Connecticut. They met for lunch at the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria but did not consider it a formal date, with Handau initially skeptical of Bladen’s intentions.

Their first official date occurred in late August 2017 back on the UConn campus, where they met at the Dairy Bar ice cream shop. Despite Handau losing her voice due to sorority commitments, they talked for more than four hours outside at a picnic table, sharing their first kiss as the sun set.

Handau, now 29, hails from New Fairfield, Connecticut. She earned a bachelor’s degree in women’s, gender and sexuality studies and political science from UConn and a law degree from Yale. She currently serves as a clerk to Judge Alvin W. Thompson of the Federal District Court in Hartford. Bladen, 28, from Mansfield, Connecticut, holds a political science degree from UConn and works as a major gift officer at Lawyers for Good Government, a nonprofit focused on human rights and legal equality.

The couple moved in together in Washington in January 2019. At that time, Handau was a legislative correspondent for Representative Jahana Hayes, while Bladen worked at a political fundraising firm. Their relationship deepened during this period, though discussions of marriage were tentative, influenced in part by Bladen’s upbringing—raised by two women who married in 2009 after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Connecticut—and the challenging nature of law school.

In July 2023, attending a close friend’s wedding prompted Handau and Bladen to seriously consider engagement. The following year, Bladen proposed at sunset by the water at Essex Town Green after dinner at the Griswold Inn in Essex, Connecticut.

They married on September 26 at the Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington, Connecticut, before 92 guests. Originally planning an outdoor tented ceremony, the couple moved indoors to the winery’s barrel room due to a nor’easter. During her speech, Handau’s mother shared that Megan was the same age at marriage—29 years, eight months, and 25 days—as she had been, a revelation that comforted the couple amid the weather-related changes.

Handau described the moment as affirming a “larger plan,” bringing calm to the wedding day’s unexpected shifts as they began their new life together in New Haven, Connecticut.