Subject: Intro from Larissa Hi Josh! My name is Victoria. Larissa recommended that I connect with you. I am visiting SF for work from LA. Let me know if you’re willing to meet while I’m in town. Best, Victoria Subject: Re: Intro from Larissa Hi Victoria, Sorry for the delay. It’s nice to meet you. How long are you in town for? Josh Subject: Re: Re: Intro from Larissa Josh, Unfortunately I'm back in LA now, but I'll be back next month. It would be great to learn more about Monday Motorbikes. I'll give you a shout when I return. Thank you, Victoria Subject: Re: Re: Re: Intro from Larissa Aw, I’m sorry. Definitely let me know when you're back. Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Intro from Larissa Hey Josh, Hope you’re well. I’m back in SF for two weeks. Let me know if there’s time in your schedule to grab coffee! Cheers, Victoria ***** This went on two more times (spanning over several months) before Josh finally agreed to meet Victoria for a business meeting, over Starbucks. Josh arrived 15 minutes late, pulling off a motorcycle helmet to reveal a shiny mane. He shook it loose and slowly combed his fingers through the locks before throwing his hair back in one smooth motion. Josh insisted on paying for coffee. They picked a seat, just around the corner from the pick-up window. Josh asked, "What part of the city are you staying in?" "I'm not sure," Victoria replied, "but I can pull it up on my phone." She struggled with her cell phone a moment. "Sorry, I don't know how to work this iPhone. I just switched from a Motorola Razor yesterday." Josh tentatively showed her how the phone worked, highlighting features and functions. Only to look up and find Victoria laughing. "I've had this phone for years!" She got him.

Going into our relationship, there were hesitations. Josh and I shared our list of 10 reasons why the other person shouldn't date us. These were reasons we weren't ready, things we needed to work on for ourselves, or secrets that we hadn't shared before, to fears of failure in relationship. It is because of these two lists that we are here today. We were true with each other from start. We put down our walls. We were vulnerable. We supported each other for every single one of the twenty things, plus some. Now I am no longer going through life trying to fight battles alone. I have a partner in crime. Together we are leveling up twice as fast.

Every year, there is an amazing meteor shower in the month of August. Josh invited me and my brother to go hiking with a group of his friends, and ultimately watch the meteor shower on 8/12/17. My brother already had plans. But, he also wasn’t sure it was safe that I join some guy I didn't know too well yet on a hike at night to a place with the least “light pollution”. I went back and forth on if I should go, but hate flaking on plans I had already committed to. I believed I was a good judge of character, and knew in my heart that Josh was a good guy. I decided to go as planned. I met Josh at his office. I learned that the group of friends would actually just be one friend, Nate... who is also his co-founder... and roommate. Also, change of plans. We would be riding motorcycles to the top of Mt. Diablo. We rode up the winding mountain. There were droves of people camping out at the top. We picked a spot to lay out our blankets, got out our snacks, our hot chocolate, and got comfortable. Moments later we started hearing a wave of voices in the crowd before we could even see the shooting star, stardust trailing. Every few seconds, another. Then another. Each time I was certain I experienced the most beautiful star possible, the next one would send a shock of amazement through me more. This continued until the sky transformed to daylight. The boys decided to cruise down the mountain in neutral. I’m not sure why, so I’m going to assume it’s because Josh didn’t want the night to end. He wanted to spend more time with me. *note - have Josh tell you this part of the story. He’s a much better story teller than I am.* Months later, after establishing we were in fact dating, we realized we didn’t know when we started dating. It was easy to go back to August 12th, a complete surreal memory. Last year, we celebrated by sneaking up to the Griffith Observatory for our anniversary. This year, we will celebrate by GETTING MARRIED and with ALL OF YOU!

A few months prior to Thanksgiving, I was deep in thought about proposing to Victoria. Family is important to me so one last thing I needed was for her to meet my dad. We made plans to have Dad and his wife visit us in LA for Thanksgiving. While planning the trip, I was contemplating the way I wanted to propose. Since Victoria and I talk about everything, it would be hard to keep a secret. I recruited my dad to pretend like he was going to pay for a professional photographer to take our holiday photos as my Christmas gift. By doing that, Victoria would be busy planning a surprise for me, and choose one of her favorite photographers and locations without knowing the real reason behind it! I snuck to see her parents and asked for their blessing. Once Vicky let my dad know about who the photographer was, he called me right away. "Victoria is planning the photo shoot for this Saturday!" That's in 3 days?! On the way to pick up the ring, I called the photographer, Faye, to explain that this wasn’t a holiday photo shoot. This was a surprise engagement! We both squealed and ran through the details. Fast forward to the day of the “Holiday Photo Surprise”. On the drive to Palos Verdes, Victoria couldn’t hold it in any more and decided to call Dad and "let me in" on the surprise! We arrived a little after noon and met Faye. Matt met us down there. As we took photos with the ring in my pocket, we got to the coastline. Faye set up a shot so that first, Victoria stood facing the camera with me in the background. Then, we switched spots. I grabbed the ring from my pocket, took a few photos and after a wink to the photographer it was show time. I turned around and got on one knee to ask Victoria for her hand in marriage. Victoria looked at me, stunned, for what felt like forever. She still thought it was her surprise! Finally, when it hit her she said YES! After she accepted and we hugged for a long time, Victoria turned to the Faye and asked, “Did you know about this?!”

Home Page photos - Faye Gedik Photography Page Photos - Stephanie Fishbein Photography