It was mid October, the year was 2015 and Brian was walking Gabby up the stairs of building 1.5 at Direct Supply. I was at my desk on the second floor with Hutch, who was pumped to spend his first day at the office. As Brian and Gabby rounded the stairs to head up to the third floor, the dogs caught wind of each other and Gabby headed straight for Hutch, bringing Brian along for the walk. He didn't even make eye contact with me for the first few minutes, all of his attention was on Hutch. We started chatting casually, and it wasn't long before he was over at the house, fixing outlets and installing motion sensor lights outside.

Brian has always picked dates that just work, numerically. He waited until 1.23.16 to ask me to officially be his girlfriend - easy to remember 1-2-3! Little did I know that as we planned to leave for MN on 11.22.17, he was plotting another surprise. I thought I was taking a half day off work to get the car packed, the dogs settled and us on the road since Brian had a 'ton of work to do'. I went to work in the morning, completely unaware he had the entire day off. He cleaned, he picked up the most beautiful bouquet of flowers, he packed us up and then he waited. I, on the other hand, went to work and stayed a little extra to chat, drove to the eye doctor to pick up my new glasses, then home but stayed in the front yard taking down our halloween decorations and in the garage putting a few things away for the winter. All while Brian watched me from the kitchen window. I had no idea. He had texted me earlier in the morning to say "when you get home, take your shoes off, your coat off and put your bags down" but I thought that was so odd and when I came in the house I only took my coat off - I had packing to do! I walked in to Brian standing in the kitchen, wearing clothes way too nice to drive to MN in. I saw the flowers, saying "Oh, how nice, you got flowers for the dog sitter!!" and he laughed when he told me they were mine. He came in to hug me and I pulled back, saying "Brian, are you feeling ok? Your heart is racing." I still had no idea. He told me how excited he was for Thanksgiving back in MN as a cover while he held me for a minute but then pulled back and told me how much more excited he was at the idea that I would spend my life with him. He told me that I have made him the happiest he's ever known and that he would be happier still if I said yes. I stood there with my mouth hanging open and my arms hanging wide as he got down on one knee and looked at me. You know how this story ends, of course. I said YES!

We decided on a small, private ceremony in Jamaica for our wedding. We wanted it tropical, with our toes in the sand and to celebrate with friends and family. We were officially wed at sunset, on the beach in Negril, Jamaica on 12.2.2018. We spoke our most important truths to each other as the waves lapped the sand behind us and our loved ones watched on. We laughed, we cried and we spent the rest of the evening celebrating our LOVE!

While we knew we wanted a small, island ceremony at sunset, we also knew we wanted the chance to celebrate with our friends and family! We chose a campground reception, located halfway between Milwaukee and St. Joseph so everyone had the chance to join us. We are looking forward to a casual day spent eating, drinking, taking photos and sharing in the love of our closest friends and family to really jumpstart our life together!!