For these young Newton newlyweds, it was all about having the right moves

The nickname was a play on TLC’s unscripted series “Dance Moms” and was a leadership designation given during Northeastern University’s annual Panhellenic dance competition/fund-raiser, Greek Sing. That year’s theme was cartoons, and Will’s fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, was paired with sorority Kappa Delta for a dance performance inspired by the animated series “Phineas and Ferb.”

As a dance dad (and Ferb), the civil engineering major helped orchestrate thrice-weekly rehearsals, and in the days leading up to their performance, he and the other dance parents scrupulously watched a playback of rehearsals. One dance mom nudged Will: “Hey — we gotta tell Jenn she’s doing something with her arms here that we don’t want.“

“I was like, ‘But I don’t want to mess anything up here,’” he remembers with a laugh.

Jennifer Seabolt was a sophomore communications major— an ensemble member he had noticed during rehearsals and shared a spontaneous kiss with, surrounded by rainbow lights and red cups, weeks prior. Both had just attended a Relay for Life walk-a-thon for American Cancer Society; they stayed up until the early morning hours of the 24-hour event, chatting.

During Greek Sing rehearsals, Jenn noticed Will’s ability to lighten up the sometimes astringent spirit the competition inspired. “I wanted to win, but also, this is not serious,” she says. “I appreciated the positivity he brought.”

After the competition, Will’s devotion to the movie “The Truman Show” led to a first date.

“For weeks, he kept telling me that if I had nothing to do, I should watch ‘The Truman Show,’” she says. “And I’m like, ‘Just ask me out.’”

Will insists it was strategy: “It was the kind of movie that if I were to watch it with a girl, there were enough fun facts about it [I knew] that I could try to seem smart, or corny jokes you can make [about] it.”

In June, they streamed the 1998 comedy on Jenn’s laptop at her apartment. When Jenn left for a family vacation soon after, their status was ambiguous. But the time apart gave them a chance to miss each other, and in July, Will asked Jenn to be his girlfriend.

So they were a couple as they entered their third year at Northeastern, where a five-year undergraduate program, including a co-op schedule, is the norm. While the pair encountered the typical trials of young love, becoming serious partners provided both a learning curve and opportunities for growth.

“I had never felt like I could fully be myself with somebody, even with some of my really close friends,” says Jenn. “He taught me how to be a little sillier and not so type A. I felt myself wanting to lighten up a little bit … and I liked how that felt.”

The couple broke up briefly in November 2019. They cited breakdowns in communication and misdirected personal frustrations as the reason for the split, but it wasn’t long before they decided: “The frustration is separate; it’s irrelevant,” says Will. “I think that we belong together.”

Jenn realized, “I can be my worst version of myself and we got through it,” she says. “I can be mad at you, you can be mad at me, but it doesn’t mean we don’t care about each other.”

“It showed me, more than anything, that even in moments when trust was low or we were just not in a good spot, we were both willing to work on it,” adds Will. “It set a foundation for any disagreements we had moving forward.”

She graduated in December 2020, starting a social media job and an online graduate program at Syracuse University as the pandemic lockdowns began to sweep the city. Will graduated the following May, and the couple navigated their respective pandemic bubbles before he moved into Jenn’s Brighton apartment in July.

“This was a test of if I can live with this person — [where] everything else about her is excellent, phenomenal, 10 out of 10 — that’s the final tick of a checkbox,“ says Will. ”That’s a forever type of thing.“

Marriage had been a topic of discussion for most of their relationship.

“I grew up wanting to get married,” says Will. He publicly (jokingly) got on one knee more times than either could count, but Jenn had a rule: no proposal until she turned 25.

“Realistically and financially, [I thought] we couldn’t get married right then,“ Jenn says. “Twenty-five was arbitrary, but when we were 22, 25 felt really far away.”

Her 25th birthday was in June 2023. Anticipation ran high in the weeks following. Still, Will kept mum about the ring — a rose gold solitaire with an embedded ruby, July’s birthstone, to mark the start of their relationship — that he had hidden in his Magic the Gathering card collection in their closet.

The morning of July 15, days after their fifth anniversary, the pair was lying in bed when Jenn made a joke that prompted Will to respond, “Well, I’ll just propose right now.”

She challenged him: “Bet.”

He retrieved the ring and took a knee. And at their bedside, he asked her to marry him; this time, for real.

Jenn, now 27, and Will, 26, wed on April 25 at the Barn at Gibbet Hill in Groton with 100 of their family and friends in attendance. The couple, who currently live in Newton, chose the venue both for its vibe and convenience.

Will is from Billerica, and the majority of the couple’s family and friends live in New England, but Jenn’s brother traveled from Honolulu, where she grew up. He brought her a haku lei, a fresh flower crown made from white orchids, transported in a cooler bag for the 12-hour flight.

“It was the most beautiful thing … it was of my childhood, basically,” Jenn says.

Jenn’s 16-year-old family pug, Pugsly, was rolled down the aisle in a stroller by the couple’s friend, Ryan, the designated flower man, who also sprinkled petals from a fanny pack. The duo garnered plenty of chuckles, but once Jenn’s processional song, “Love of My Life” by Queen, began to play, laughter quickly turned into happy tears.

They hired artist Devin Tormey to paint a portrait of their first dance as it happened. She continued, behind an easel, through the reception.

“Every moment [of your wedding day] feels more real than the last,” says Will. “It’s like, ‘This is the moment when it’s gonna feel the most real … no, wait, this is the moment.’ But I think that moment, when I first laid eyes on her, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s the realest right there.’”

Read more from The Big Day, The Boston Globe’s new weddings column.

Rachel Kim Raczka is a writer and editor in Boston. She can be reached at [email protected].