Celebrate with us! #marryinmarin

On a fateful day in April 2017, Avela decided to join an ASL hike group in Auburn, CA. Avela was new to the Sacramento area, hoping to connect with new friends. Brandon was local to the area, but living in Los Angeles at the time. Brandon was visiting his friends and family in Woodland, CA and saw the ASL hike group event, so he thought he'd join. Avela and Brandon met each other for the first time during the hike, and kicked off as new friends. They instantly made a connection talking about their passion for traveling. After the hike, they remained in contact as friends, and eventually, decided to work together as coordinators for Camp Signshine in July 2018. Prior to the week of camping, Avela and Brandon had a blast doing monthly prep meetings at Ikea (specifically, in the cafeteria area) in West Sacramento and the Sacramento Co-op market (specifically, upstairs area). Then Camp Signshine happened, and from there, Avela and Brandon continued to solidify their friendship, wallowing in each other's weirdness. Life continued to happen, and their stars still moved slowly to intertwine. In the spring of 2019, Brandon had a hiccup trying to plan a trip to Europe with his sister. Brandon extended the invite and Avela immediately bought a plane ticket. But then Brandon's sister backed out due to an ACL surgery. Brandon thought long and hard, and decided that he should YOLO (Yolo is the name of his hometown!). Brandon went ahead and started planning for a trip with Avela to Europe in May of 2019. Their trip spanned across 6 countries - Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czechia, Spain, then France. This was the trip where Brandon fell in love with Avela. Brandon confessed to Avela at a pub in Vienna, Austria after a few too many shots of slivovitz, and Avela took it in remarkably well. But Avela wasn't ready, and did not want to do anything at that time. So they remained friends, and enjoyed the remainder of their trip. After Europe, they continued to stay in touch, frequently camping together at various national parks, and spent more time being weird together. Until the winter of 2019. That was when Avela started to fall in love with Brandon. After months of stars starting to finally intertwine, after building a strong friendship, Avela decided to ask Brandon out on November 1st, 2019. Thus, the stars collided and created an unfathomable deed of love.

After dating for two years, Brandon wanted to surprise Avela with a proposal since marriage was no strange topic. Avela's only request was that it be in private, with no public spectators mesmerized with stupor by the beauty of sign language. While trying to decide the date, Brandon remembered he and his best friend, Spencer, had a pact that if they didn't get married by the time they were 30 years old, they would marry each other. This was an inside joke that spanned over a decade of their friendship. As August 2021 approached, California had terrible wildfires that prevented an original proposal planned in the woods, via a camping trip. Brandon's 31st birthday was fast approaching on September 4th and out of sheer panic (insert sarcasm cue), he proposed on September 3rd. The timing couldn't be anymore perfect for their growing love and desire to commit - and congruent with the timing of the inside joke. After a nice Japanese dinner at one of their local spots, Avela and Brandon went home and cozied up in pajamas, drinking wine, and playing card games. Card games were a personal favorite activity for them, and often how they would spend their down time. While looking for a 'missing' card, Brandon pulled the ring next to the missing card and proposed. There, Brandon successfully caught Avela off guard! With two hours left to spare before midnight, Spencer was unfortunately not the bride. And the rest is history. Now here we are today, getting ready to celebrate with all of you on September 3rd, 2022!