Hey there, I'm Jake. I was born and raised in Michigan, but in May of 2016, the breath-taking Rocky Mountains called to the boy scout inside of me, and I decided to move in with my aunt and her family. For those of you who analyze new-comers by their Myers-Briggs, I'm an INFJ, so that should tell you a little bit about how I am wired. Speaking of wired, I am pretty sure the 60% of my body that is supposed to be water is actually coffee. I might have a slight obsession. I'm the "class clown meets geek" type, a superhero-obsessed 25 year old out here trying to make people smile.

Hi, I'm Marina :) I was born in 1997 in Colorado and am the middle of 5 children. I grew up super involved in our church, volunteering in worship and ministry for as long as I can remember. I have a huge passion for photography, but not quite as big as my passion for music and writing. I am an INFJ, something Jake and I have in common, although I am much more emotional and introverted. A lot of my friends call me the hippie and the mom friend of our group, based on my peaceful demeanor and nurturing nature. I am so excited to marry the man of my dreams in February and start our crazy adventure together.

I had been working at Costa Vida since high school, and in May of 2016, Jake started working there as well. We didn't click immediately, just because of opposite shifts. Shortly after Jake joined me at Costa, I went to Florida to participate in AMTC Shine, which is essentially a conference for people in the entertainment industry to get scouted. There, I received a scholarship to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts to attend a 2-year acting program. I've never been so happy that I turned an offer down. I didn't know why at the time, but I just didn't feel right taking it. I went back home and continued working with Jake, pursuing projects I could do here. In November of that year, I left Costa to star working at my parent's coffee shop...

When I moved to Colorado, I was just looking for a change of scenery. I got a job working at a restaurant but had no idea I would meet the love of my life and future bride. As we worked together more, our friendship grew stronger and we became closer. One morning, I received some bad news from my sister. My grandma lost her battle to cancer, and naturally... I was devastated. Marina was there to make it easier though. It was then when I realized the kind heart that she had and that our friendship could grow into something more. A short time after that, she got another job- thankfully neighboring where we had worked together. I bought an early bird discount card just so I would have an excuse to go see her...

It started because Jake got a discount card, meaning he came to see me every day before he went to work to get coffee and chat. Then, from there, it turned into getting breakfast together when I was on my break, before he would even go to work. He would be scheduled to close and he would come in and take me to breakfast, and we would talk about everything. He became my best friend and a very huge part of my life. For months, I watched a man just give and give to everyone around him without even thinking, and fell in love with him. He scraped my coworker's cars, bought them food when they were having a hard day, and brought me orange juice and cough drops when I was sick. That lasted for a while, and then we started hanging out outside of work. Then, one day, totally out of character for me (I am the shy girl who had a huge fear of rejection) I told Jake I knew he liked me and that I liked him too. So we went on our first official date that Saturday to the Denver Art museum.. we spent hours in there... From that moment we were inseparable, and within a week he was meeting members of my extended family and being put in family photos. We all knew he was here to stay.

For the proposal, we went back to the art museum. If you know Jake, you know he is a cold bodied person, so when he carried a warm jacket in while already wearing a long sleeve shirt on a warmer day, I didn't really question it. After wandering through the museum, he led me to a balcony, where our best friend and my brother were waiting for us. He looked at me and said "I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, and now I guess the question of the hour is do you want the same thing?" And... here we are. Thank you for joining us on our journey!