We're getting married!

We began our relationship as just friends in the fall of 2013, and it stayed that way for almost 4 years. Being part of the same group of friends, we would regularly hang out and see each other, but we were also both dating other people. Fast forward to July 29, 2017: we were attending the wedding of our friend David (Jesse was his best man and now David is Jesse's), and both happened to be single at the time. Neither of us consider ourselves to be great dancers (you've been warned for our reception), but Jen was attempting at least and realized that Jesse was the only one in their group not dancing. So, she went over to his table and pulled him onto the dance floor. Very soon after that, the DJ switched to a slow song and left us to start slow dancing together. Once in each other's arms and staring at each other, we both felt that fairytale "spark" of chemistry (yep, it actually exists! awwww ;-) ). Each of us, however, assumed the feeling was one-sided and didn't pursue the risky route of dating within a close friend group. So, we have to fast forward again (haha). Jesse slowly (and we mean SLOWLY) started ramping up his flirting over the next year and a half, and Jen finally started to realize that he was actually flirting and not *just* being the nice guy that he is. She had to give him some subtle hints that she was onboard, and then finally a not-so-subtle one. But at last, on New Year's Day 2019, we had our first kiss (and we moved a bit more quickly after that ;-) ). Later in our dating, we talked about when each of us had started thinking about the other in a "more-than-friends" way and discovered that the spark we had each felt during that dance was actually a mutual turning point. Fun fact: We hired the same DJ since he wound up playing a significant role in our relationship!

One bright, shiny, and happy moment in the chaotic year of 2020 was our engagement! We had already been discussing that we wanted to get married and had been designing the engagement ring together, so while the fact that Jesse proposed was not a surprise, the timing certainly was! We were skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb in BC that weekend. There were beautiful blue skies, but it was extremely windy and cold. So windy, in fact, that the highest alpine lifts, which offer the best views and thus engagement spots, were closed until later in the day. Jesse's plan had been to propose at the top of Whistler mountain on Sunday (15th), and we skiied Blackcomb mountain on Saturday (14th). When the alpine lifts opened Saturday afternoon and we made it to the gorgeous viewpoint at the top of Blackcomb, Jesse tried to change his plans and do it then. Buuut, Jen was clueless and unknowingly screwed that up, so he went back to his original plan of doing it the next day. At the end of the day Saturday, though, we decided to upload for one last half run on Blackcomb. On the way up, a woman on the gondola got a phone call from her son asking if she had seen that the resort was closing for at least a week starting the next day for that little thing called COVID that was started to make the news. We were shocked! Wanting to be very certain this was true, we went into the lodge that was at the upper mid-mountain area to check. Sure enough, it was true--there wouldn't be skiing Sunday (or for the rest of the season as it turned out). We were both bummed, and Jesse said "I had plans tomorrow!" Jen thought "well, duh, we had the same plans of skiing." But then Jesse continued with "...so I guess I'll do it now" and dropped to one knee next to Jen and pulled out the ring box. We kissed (a lot) and got cheered on by the people still in the lodge. We still got to get our just-engaged picture in front of a beautiful view and feel thankful that we at least found out before we left that day!