We're getting married

In July 2018, Jess and Rob met in a way that no couple has ever met before: on Hinge. Jess had decided to squeeze some light app dating in during her summer break from USC. Rob, having just accepted an associate position in LA, had downloaded the app prior to his arrival (months prior) and set out to see what the Beach Boys were raving about. Rob, cleverly, indicated on his profile that he lived in Silver Lake, since that’s where the cool kids were. Jess—who actually lived in Silver Lake—matched with Rob on the basis of this information: a lifelong pedestrian, Jess had no interest in enduring an LA freeway to find love, and thus limited her search to men within a two-mile radius. Whoops! Despite finding out that Rob’s location was a ruse, and that his real residence was in—gasp!—Downtown, Jess decided to give him a shot. They met at Barbrix, a sleek little wine bar in (you guessed it) Silver Lake. One glass became two, two became three. They wound up barhopping across the neighborhood for the next six hours, talking music and philosophy, favorite writers and movies and games. They shared an absurd amount of niche interests, from Weird Al to Sleater-Kinney, George Carlin to Neil Gaiman, South Park to Star Trek. It was the best first date of both their lives. After several more dates like that, it became clear these two were headed somewhere very serious. Rob, having just moved to LA, was not expecting to find “the one” so quickly. Surely, he thought, this would take some trial and error. So Rob told Jess that he was more interested in friendship than romance, and off he went to endure those trials and make those errors. Jess, crestfallen, moved on. But much to her surprise, Rob actually did make the effort to be her friend. Because Rob knew that Jess wasn’t just special: she was the most special person he’d ever met. One day, Jess offhandedly remarked that she was interested in learning bass guitar. Rob, being Rob, immediately bought her one. A lifelong musician, Rob had just met two kindred spirits and was forming a new band. He told them that he knew a “great” (read: novice) bassist to complete their rock quartet, and thus Solar Sister was born. Every Friday night they had band practice, and every Friday night Jess and Rob grew a little closer. Rob brought his Nintendo 64 to their rehearsal space; after practice ended, the two would order pizza and play Smash. Soon they added Monday night writing sessions to their weekly regimen. By the fall of 2019, they had become the best of friends; deep down, they both knew they were becoming something more. Things came to a head in November, when Jess and Rob finally faced their feelings. After very good coaching from two very dear friends, Rob confessed to Jess that his love for her was deep and true and that no one else would do. By then, Jess had written a dozen love songs for Rob, ranging in tenor from not-so-subtle to dead-obvious; needless to say, she felt the same way. Off they went to live happily ever after…right into a pandemic. Jess moved into Rob’s studio apartment in Downtown, where all they had was each other, some brave friends, their shared hobbies, and no privacy. The world outside was falling apart, but for Rob and Jess, life had never been better. In 2021, they moved into a beautiful rental house in Pasadena, complete with a basement that Rob turned into a recording studio, a questionable backyard patio, and a black dog—err, cat. That summer, an opportunity came up for Rob and Jess to meet William Shatner—who, for those of you living in space, is Captain Kirk (the ONLY Captain Kirk, Rob insists). They traveled all the way to Ticonderoga, New York to visit the Star Trek Set Tour, a 1:1 recreation of the 1960’s Star Trek set that attracts fans from all over the world. Such a pilgrimage could only mean one thing: with Captain Kirk’s blessing, Rob got down on one knee and asked Jess to spend the rest of her life with him. She said yes—and the rest is history!