The couple, Nora and Michael Ludwig, got married at the Peek and have celebrated their anniversary there ever since. This has included the tradition of leaving love letters to each other in the room where they spent their wedding night. This year, when they returned to the resort to celebrate their 18th anniversary the letters were gone.

“We always knew there was a chance of someone finding the letters and throwing them out, I just prayed it wouldn’t happen,” Nora Ludwig said. “When I opened the door to the room last weekend and saw new flooring, I stopped dead in my tracks. The letters were gone and part of the magic died.”

The Ludwigs met after three different parties were trying to have them meet without anyone knowing. Ludwig said her husband knew she was his “dream girl when he heard I had three jobs, graduated from college and went to church.” The pair had their first date at Tim Hortons, so Ludwig said the restaurant now equals love, and that their life has been an adventure ever since.

“If you knew my husband, you know he’s a wonderful guy with a whole lot of crazy, the good kind,” Ludwig said. “We have gone skydiving, bungee jumping, ran a half marathon together, etc. He keeps me on my toes and keeps life an adventure.”

The Ludwig’s love letters. Submitted photo

Ludwig said their wedding was also an adventure, involving only close relatives and friends. They sent packages to each guest with ski rentals, lift passes, massage and pool passes along with a walkie talkie and after saying “I do” the Ludwigs “hopped on the ski lift and skied down in all our finery at Peek ‘n Peak.”

Michael Ludwig was the one who came up with the idea to leave love letters to each other on the pair’s wedding night. The Ludwigs stayed in the Honeymoon Suite at the Peek on their wedding night, which Ludwig said was a beautiful, English style room with a fireplace. The Ludwigs also own their wedding bed because the Peek was doing renovations and said they could have both the bed and the dresser. That first night in the room the love letter tradition was born.

“On that first night, Michael said we should write love letters and hide them in our room and see if they are there the following year,” Ludwig said. “I was cranky and just wanted to go — it was super early in order to catch a flight for goodness sake. He told me I would appreciate it later and he wasn’t wrong. The first few years we hid them under a dresser drawer. One year a cleaning woman signed off on them and put them back. After the room renovations, we changed the location to underneath the dresser.”

Since that first night the Ludwigs have written love letters to each other every year except during Covid. They would read the letters out loud to each other every year.

“It was a beautiful story of our lives together,” Ludwig said. “All of our hopes and dreams. All of our pain and struggles. We were able to remember the sweet memories of buying a house, having children, the death of a parent, and how the ‘State of the Union’ really was between us.”

A more current photo of Nora and Michael Ludwig, with the pile of their letters in between them.

The Peek’n Peak has always been special for them, Ludwig said. Each time they go back it is a different experience, but one of the things that never changed was checking into the same room and seeing if the letters were there. They even shared the story with the staff over the years, and had a following on Facebook to see if they would find the letters every year.

Since discovering that the letters have been lost, the Ludwigs have been trying to share their story with anyone who might have an idea of what happened to them. They talked to everyone they could while staying at the Peek and Ludwig said the manager even called the man who replaced the floors in the room. A friend also suggested Ludwig tag the Peek in a Facebook post to see if anyone might have more information.

“I have been overwhelmed with the amount of people that have reached out to talk with and tag people they know that may have information and share my story online,” Ludwig said. “Even my husband, who works at Family Health Medical Services, is talking with patients that have seen my post and shared information, like what the cleaning crew usually does with forgotten items found in rooms. It’s such a small world. Michael and I have tried to hold on to hope.”

Additionally, Ludwig said someone had reached out through the post saying they had been the one that threw the letters away but she did not know for sure if that was true. She has also recently opened an email for anyone who might have any more information about the letters, missingletters2024@gmail.com

After the discovery of the missing letters, Ludwig said the couple did not write new ones this year, as it did not feel right at the time and they were both really sad to find the others missing. A new tradition will be formed, and Ludwig added that new letters were not necessarily off the table. Overall, she said her and Michael are just keeping their love story going.

The pile of love letters that the Ludwigs have written to each other over the years. Submitted photo

“We are just everyday people who have a great love story,” Ludwig said.

Nora and Michael Ludwig riding on the ski lift on the night they got married at the Peek’n Peak resort in Clymer 18 years ago. Submitted photos