We’re getting married!

JILL: We met at a stage combat workshop in Houston! Robby stood next to me in the class we were taking so that he’d hopefully be partnered with me. He was! Unfortunately for him, I was better at the technique we first learned and he whiffed 3 times in a row. He was so light-hearted and humorous about it; I knew I had to get to know him more. ROBBY: We met at TXI. I had just started Grad School and was telling myself that I wasn’t interested in a relationship, but then I saw Jill. I thought she was cute, but hadn’t taken a workshop with her. Then I saw her while I was walking into a Captain America Shield Workshop. I started up a conversation about dogs because I remember her mentioning that she had a dog while she was talking to some people I knew. I thought that if I started a conversation, then maybe she would want to partner up with me during the class. I was right. We were learning a new technique and she nailed it on the first try. After failing the technique 3 times we laughed, and haven’t missed a day of talking and laughing since.

ROBBY: The 24 hours leading up to the proposal, I decided to recreate our first few dates. I took us to dinner where we had our first date and shared our first kiss. After that, we went to the Alley Theatre, where we saw our first show together. The next morning we drove the Blue Door Coffee Company in the Woodlands and played “We’re Not Really Strangers”, where we had our second date. The afternoon was filled with me running around town gathering all the supplies I needed. Once everything was set up, rose petals leading from the parking lot to the bridge at Cypress Alamo, champagne chilling on ice, bouquets of wild flowers, professional photographer, and Winnie; I finally texted her the location. I was filled with nerves, but when I saw her all the nerves went away. We walked from the parking lot to a bridge, I dropped to one knee and asked her the most important question I will ever ask. Guess what she said? JILL: Robby spoiled me with surprises the entire 24 hours leading up to the proposal. The day before he proposed, he took us to dinner where we had our first date, then to a show at the Alley Theatre where we had our third date. The morning of the 21st he drove us all the way to the Woodlands where we had our second date—at a coffee shop playing We’re Not Really Strangers (a get to know you type game). That evening he sent me an address of a place to meet him and I found him in the parking lot, with a trail of rose petals leading us somewhere. He proposed at the Cypress Alamo (a wedding venue featuring a recreation of the Alamo). We took our engagement photos, with Winnie stealing the show, and then met up with a large group of our friends at Truck Yard—a bar we had gone to with the workshop group the day we met.

We both attended graduate school at the University of Houston--Robby being one year ahead. At UH, we both worked on Julius Caesar (Robby playing Brutus, Jill playing Decius/Trebonia) and Urinetown (we got to play the leads who fall in love: Hope and Bobby!). Next, we worked opposite of each other as Hermia and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream and in Romeo and Juliet (Robby playing Tybalt/Friar John, Jill playing Balthasar) at the Houston Shakespeare Festival. We're excited to see what shows will be next!