On a cold rainy Wednesday night, Jess sat in her apartment and had two choices. She could stay in her comfy pajamas and stand up her first date (again) or she could meet this guy at her favorite Italian restaurant only a few blocks away. For some fateful reason that night, she made the wise decision to go meet Jared and good thing she did! A quick six hours later, the staff said they could not keep their restaurant open any longer. They quickly made plans for a second date and the rest was history!

Jared had originally planned an elaborate proposal at Jess's favorite cabin up at Rainier National Park with their closest friends and family. Because of covid, he needed to come up with a Plan B, fast. So when Jess suggested a quick getaway for Memorial Day weekend, he quickly jumped at the chance to pull together a surprise plan - not an easy feat, given they were both working from home 5-feet away from each other all day! After an elaborate series of tricks (thanks Sarah & Dan!) to get Jess to bring a dress to the trip ("we want to play dress up for a fancy dinner!"), leave the house at the right time, and get to the lake dock at the right moment when the photographers were well-hidden, Jess was caught completely off guard when she walked down the stairs to find rose petals, candles, and 8 (!) laptops playing videos Jared made of their vacations together. Jared was down on one knee. The next few minutes were a bit of a blur for both of us, but we ended up engaged :) We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in Seattle!