We're getting Married !

Hi and welcome! I'm the bride, Jess and I'm beyond excited to be sharing and celebrating this special day with you all! As many of you know, for the past 5 years I have been living and teaching in Saudi Arabia. When I took this job back in 2017 I never imagined I would meet my future partner half away around the world. Since the moment Kyran and I met, it has been a whirlwind. I have been educating him on the ways of running, and all things American. While, he has been introducing me to the world of rugby, biltong, and all the other things that make South Africa great. For everyone traveling far and wide to come and help us celebrate, Kyran and I are honored and can't wait to celebrate with you all!

Hi and welcome! I am Kyran, the groom. I am honored with the pleasure of officially inviting you to join Jess and me on our special day. As many of you might know by now Jess and I met while teaching abroad in Saudi Arabia. As unconventional as our paths crossing was, we very quickly learned that unconventional was our style, and meeting Jess at a volleyball social rather than going to watch the rugby is a pretty good way of summing up our efforts of confiding to the terms of convention. Fast forward almost 2 years later, my best friend and I are putting together the wedding of our dreams. It would not be fair to say that, without the help of her amazing 2 sisters and her parents who welcomed my unconventionality with open arms. For as long as I can remember, hanging out with Tim and the gang, watching/playing rugby and occasionally spending school holidays in Cape Town has been the normal procedure and after meeting Jess not much has changed. However, there are less facebook rants about refs making the wrong call and plenty more trips to Cape Town, this time with a partner to run along the beach front with. My family, coming from South Africa and Canada I have no doubt, are extremely excited for this opportunity to meet Jess' family and all of our friends we have made over the last few years. Just like them, I cannot wait to celebrate this day with you all. I encourage you all to mingle and share stories about our families so that we can all look back at this celebration as one family who has come together through the beauty of a truly rare love story. I look forward to sharing a drink and a laugh with you, and am very grateful for you choosing to celebrate our Happy day with us. Regards, The groom

We met at a volleyball game. To be honest, both of us weren't too thrilled to be there but somehow maybe call it fate, we both found ourselves sitting crossed-legged on the grass on a beautiful February afternoon in Saudi Arabia. We both live on the same compound, work for the same schools' group but yet our paths hadn't crossed until that day. He knew me (Jess) as the girl who was always running laps around the compound perimeter and I thought he was a professional soccer player for the Saudi club team in our province for the longest time. But finally, we were properly meeting and found ourselves so preoccupied with getting to know each other, neither of us ended up getting a foot onto the volleyball court that afternoon.

Due to Covid and how quickly the world of international travel had changed, we found ourselves unable for two years to make our way to the USA. After two years, two trips to South Africa to visit Kyran's family, and the USA government finally getting back to issuing travel visas, we were America bound this past December. Now, I (Jess) was 99.9 percent positive I would be returning to Saudi as an engaged lady but I wasn't sure how or when Kyran would pop the question. We met up with my family in Milton-Freewater and stayed for a few days showing Kyran around my hometown and enjoying everything Milton has to offer (good views and wine). Eventually, it was time to head to the west side of the state. My family (dad, mom, Amy, and Spencer ), Kyran and I, and all our suitcases piled into the car for our first family road trip together. As the road trip commenced, Amy and I thought it would be a super cool idea to stop at Multnomah Falls (an iconic Oregon spot!), Oneway, or another we convinced our dad to stop. As we pulled into the parking lot and tumbled out of the car, Kyran pulled my dad aside while he told us we should go on ahead. Now, I was in my head, I was starting to think of all the different scenarios that could happen. We went on ahead thinking Kyran and our dad would catch up soon. 5 mins, then 10 mins, then 20 mins later they eventually strolled up the hill from the parking lot to meet us at the falls. Kyran quickly grabs my hand and says "come we need a picture in front of the falls!". Somehow in this process, he had given his phone and passcode to Spencer and sounded the alarm that it was going to happen. After a few pictures and me trying to walk away from him so I could look at them, Kyran dropped to one knee and popped the question! Before the Yes, came a "what did you say!?" Then unending hugs and smiles.