In 2006, we met very briefly, in the cafeteria of our high school. Caitlin remembers wondering who "the swimmer with those eyes" was, but Brent remembers nothing of the underclassman he had tried to sell a dance ticket to. In 2008, we really met when Brent's roommate introduced him to the girl he had just started dating. That girl was Caitlin. We talked about films (a mutual love of ours). Caitlin finally knew who the swimmer with the eyes was. A friendship was established. When Brent's roommate and Caitlin broke up, Brent and Caitlin stayed friends. For years, we double dated with our significant others, talked on the phone about life, and encouraged each other (for a few years, across state lines), perfectly happy as friends. As fate would have it, Caitlin even caught the bouquet at Brent's first wedding (or as he likes to call it, his practice wedding). After some twists, turns, and 9 years of friendship, we found ourselves unexpectedly unattached and single. On Easter of 2017, we went for a walk around Fountain Square and realized that in all of the years of knowing each other, we had never spent time together alone, and there was clearly something more than friendship sparking between us. 4 weeks later, we went on our first date and the rest is history.

We live in Irvington, a former small town that is now a historic neighborhood in Indianapolis, known for its Halloween festival. At the festival's Masquerade Ball, in 2017, we saw a man live painting the event. Caitlin made a comment that if we ever got married, it would be amazing to have someone live paint the reception. There's a park, about a block from our home, that we love to walk to, run around, and sit at the fountain in its center. There are many little details that we love: the fountain, old homes surrounding it, a bust of Washington Irving (the man our neighborhood is named after), a dish for our dogs to drink out of, and even beautiful trash cans that line the sidewalks. On the night of July 19th, we went to dinner at Caitlin's favorite neighborhood restaurant, The Legend. Then, as we often do, we got ice cream at Wyliepalooza and took a walk around our neighborhood. As it often happens, Caitlin suggested walking around the circle. As we approached, we saw a man painting a large canvas, in the park and Caitlin suggested that we go up to see if we could look at what he was working on. As we approached, the man stepped away, revealing a painting of two people, dressed exactly as we were dressed, getting engaged next to a man painting the painting we saw before us. Brent said, "This is Nicholai Shaver. He painted the Irvington Masquerade Ball... I got him to agree to paint this piece tonight...And he's agreed to paint our wedding reception." Brent got down on one knee and asked Caitlin to be his wife. Obviously, she said yes.