We're getting married!

We met during the summer of 2013 working freshman orientation at Loyola Marymount University. I had just gotten back from studying in Germany when I was assigned to be a group leader and, in turn, he was chosen to be a coordinator for the leaders. I was put under his supervision, so we got to hang out a lot. When you're with someone 24/7 for six weeks, you learn a lot about them - we laughed, he cried, we ordered pizza, he saw me with no makeup on and sweatpants, we watched movie marathons and kept each other sane throughout our working days, then gossiped while chaperoning the kiddos at night - aka instant BFFs. He did an immersion trip in China for the rest of the summer and we kept in contact throughout - cue FaceTiming despite the terrible time zone differences and friendly snail mail that turned into love letters. When he returned, he asked me out on our first official date (with roses spelling "DATE?" on my front lawn, mind you) and we went to Chart House in Marina del Rey. We took a walk along the marina after dinner when he took an abrupt stop, got down on one knee, and asked his best friend to be his girlfriend -- with a ring pop.

Summer of 2013 was a year for the books. After being accepted as a Summer Orientation Coordinator for Parent Programs at LMU, life was looking up and my schedule was set for the summer. I was quickly thrown into a leadership position where I had to lead 48 new leaders/friends. Going to LA food stops, Dodger games and late night beach runs was fun, but the friendships and bonds were more real than ever. One of the biggest take-aways was my friendship with Katrina. She was my go-to friend when the stress set in, when the stomach was growling and when there was a Matthew McConaughey marathon running. The summer went by fast but our friendship was meant to last longer. After I took a quick trip to China, I left her with some notes to remember me. Constant FaceTime calls, emails and notes kept our friendship going. As soon as I arrived back in LA, I decided to take a risk and ask her out on a date. In classic fashion, I spelled out “DATE?” in rose petals on her front lawn. It wasn’t until the next day that she saw it – and said yes (thankfully). The date was set and Chart House was my restaurant of choice - it's a restaurant near and dear to my heart since my family worked there in our past life. After dinner, we took a stroll around the marina and this was the first time I got down on one knee and asked her to be my girlfriend with a ring pop. It was a “Yes” and not the last yes I would hear on one knee!

I had just gotten back from Greece a few days days prior when he told me that we were going to meet up with friends to celebrate someone's promotion. I hadn't seen this friend in a long time so I was eager to celebrate despite being extremely jetlagged and working since 6am that morning. Nonetheless, I came ready to rally. We met up for drinks as we waited for our table and started catching up. I should've caught on when I mentioned that our anniversary was the next day and our friend responded "I know" then tried to shake it off, but jetlagged me thought nothing more of it. In the middle of dinner, I started to hit a wall (figuratively, of course) and proceeded to fall asleep at the dinner table unintentionally. They could see that I was struggling and as I hinted that I wanted to go home, I was ignored as they suggested dessert and coffee, which took ages to arrive to our table (apparently, this was on purpose, but sleepy me didn't have the energy to question it). When we finally left as the restaurant closed, these crazies suggested going to a bar - I finally put my foot down and said I couldn't hang. It was almost midnight and I had work in a few hours. He had texted me as we were saying our goodbyes (I'm easily distracted by my phone and we text each other secretly in group settings) and the text read, "Will You?" My response was an annoyed version of, "Will I what? I don't get it." As he kept repeating this and as I grew more exhausted and annoyed at the banter, he got down on one knee and asked, "...Marry Me?" I was shocked, my jaw dropped, camera flashes came out of nowhere, my friends were all crying and there was anonymous applause echoing around us. I'm very hard to surprise, yet there I was, at the stroke of midnight of our 4-year anniversary, surprised.

The date was August 31, 2017 and it happened to be raining. I've stored the engagement ring in my high school letterman jacket for the past 2 weeks. Katrina just got back from a girls' trip to Greece and didn’t suspect a thing since she was jetlagged and worked east coast hours. My plan was to propose to her after a nice dinner in Santa Monica but let's see if we get that far. After working a 9hr day, dropping the ring off with a close friend and dealing with rain – I had to call her mom for her blessing. After texting Mrs. Malaiba about a “Special Surprise” I wanted to do for her daughter, I got her on the phone. A couple minutes of small talk and I finally got the courage to explain my dinner plans and get down on one knee. Her response: “What, Bryan I didn’t hear you, the phone cut out." After repeating myself and hearing only silence on the other end, she responded: “If it is the blessing you are looking for - you have it from me and the dad.” This put me in tears...but success! The plan was to get dinner with close friends (Zack and Adam) to celebrate Zack’s promotion. The funny part was that Zack didn’t get a promotion and it was actually a pre-engagement dinner. Being “fashionably late,” we finally met up and the food started to flow in, but I couldn’t eat a thing. So many feelings in my stomach left me without an appetite. Coordinating via Apple Watch at the dinner table was the key since everyone was in on the surprise. With the photographer on his way, Katrina hit a wall at 10PM…I needed 2 more hours for it to be our actual anniversary (Sept 1st) and my plan would be a true success. After a couple more hours of coffee, dessert and her dozing on my shoulder – we finally made it to 11:45PM. We walked slowly down the escalators, saying our goodbyes and the clock hit midnight. I texted her, “Will You” and her sleepy self didn’t get it. I told her to read it out loud – “Will You,” she yelled, and then I got down on one knee and said “Marry Me?”

Our wedding will take place on our exact 5-year anniversary to the date at the place where it all began, Loyola Marymount University. It marks a new chapter in our story, which we are beyond excited for you all to be a part of. Here's to our full circle.