Thank you so much for coming to our wedding website! It really means the world to Brandon and me that we have so many people in our lives who love us. Both of our hearts are full to overflowing with the wonderful comments, cards and calls that we’ve received. WE LOVE OUR PEOPLE! Because it’s been a pandemic many of you haven’t gotten to be part of our love story! Well, sit down, grab a cup of coffee (or matcha if you're me) and read away!

This past summer both Brandon and I were using Bumble, a dating app. For those of you who haven’t used dating apps, they are the best of times and the worst of times. Sometimes you go on four dates in a week and they’re all great. Sometimes there’s not a peep for months and then you go on a date with a guy who shows up in a wife beater. Awesome. On August 20, 2020 I sent my very first message to Brandon (the woman initiates on Bumble). I am still SO THANKFUL TO GOD I sent that message because if you all had seen his profile… We’ll just say that two of the pictures were of Max, his dog, and in another he was wearing a shirt with the word “climax” emblazoned across it (in all fairness Climax was a company where he had interned). The first thing that really caught my eye about Brandon was his natural self-confidence. Most guys would suggest coffee for the first date, but Brandon asked me to go to dinner and drinks. He didn’t message forever, he just went for it. Brandon had suggested sushi over off NW 21st. I can remember sitting down at the table outside and he was wearing this button-down shirt. He started talking about his family and his nieces and I was like wow, this guy is incredible. So open, so engaged, so family-oriented, so settled in himself. As I drove home that night all I could think was “Man, he would be the best husband ever." Smitten, non? We ended up going on two more dates that week, including a day out at Cannon Beach throwing the ball for Max.

A little over a week after that first sushi date, however, the 2020 wildfires hit. We couldn’t go out of our houses because the air quality was deemed extremely hazardous. My sisters and I grabbed our air filters and moved down to Lake Oswego to our parents’ house so that we could maximize our air quality. Not even a fiery apocalypse could keep me from hanging out with Brandon, though. I would put on an N-95, hop in my car and drive over to Brandon’s after he got off work. We’d hang out—and then I’d drive back to my parents’ and tell the fam all my thoughts about this Brandon Clarno I was getting to know. Apparently the pandemic and the wildfires did it to us, because after about a week of driving back and forth from Hillsboro to Lake Oswego, we decided to become official. My stomach still gets tight from happiness when I type that. We were both so happy.

Fall and winter were filled with trips and travel. We went up to Olympia and met Brandon’s mom and brothers (especially special was meeting Brandon’s grandpa Larry and grandma Ivern). I met Brandon's dad and stepmom. Brandon met my family. We went out to the coast with my sisters. We did a screaming tour of Ashland and the Redwoods one long weekend. Brandon started traveling regularly for work. I had foot surgery and was laid up for a month. We went to Bend with my family. I went to visit Brandon down in Arizona, and we went to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Then in February, Brandon’s grandma Ivern took a turn and passed away fairly quickly. Ivern was a very important part of Brandon’s growing up, and he immediately flew up from Arizona when he heard she wasn’t doing well. I picked him up at the airport, and we got to his mom Kathy’s house just in time for a final FaceTime. It was very bittersweet to watch Brandon's family say goodbye to a grandma and mom who had radiated life and love. At her funeral people kept saying that Ivern didn’t have a mean bone in her body. I clearly see that goodness passed down to her grandson, Brandon, and I’m so thankful for her legacy.

As all of these trips and travels were occurring, another thing was happening: Brandon and I were trying to figure out our future. See, we had a complication… Brandon had gotten a competitive position in his company to work at their headquarters in the Netherlands for two years—and the two years were starting in September 2021. Pretty quickly we knew we didn’t want to be apart—and that we wanted to get married. On March 26 Brandon took me up for a snow hike at one of his favorite places up near Mt. Hood. I told him I didn’t like snowshoeing so instead I learned a new term: "post-holing." Yikes. Maybe I do like snowshoeing? Brandon was pumped that I had no idea what was about to happen. I knew exactly what was happening. He’d talked all week about bringing his camera (he’d never brought it anywhere before). He’d asked if I had a camera tripod the day before. His mom called that morning and on speakerphone was like Brandon you have to get an action shot of you and Britt! Also, right before we left for the hike I had just lightly put my hand down on his backpack—and felt a small square box. Nice, Britt. I knew what was happening. But when we got to the top of the hike, it was perfect. We were absolutely alone. Everything was quiet except the birds singing. Brandon went to "adjust his gaiter" and all of a sudden he was down on his knee proposing. It was perfect. A perfect moment.

Our wedding on August 29, 2021 will be one year and one day after we first met on the sushi date. We would love to have you all there to celebrate with us. We'll go on a honeymoon, and then mid-September we will head out for our new adventure in Veldhoven, the Netherlands!