Free Drinks . . . and a Wedding!

Our story begins on August 22, 2018. Brenna and Tanner were halfway through law school orientation at the University of Wyoming. Brenna had just moved across the country from Pennsylvania and Tanner had moved north from Arizona. They were both paired as witnesses in the same mock trial, run by the third-year law students. Realizing his jacket collar was sticking up in the back right before the mock trial, the first words that Tanner ever said to Brenna were, “Can you fix my jacket?” Brenna reached up to adjust his collar and the rest was history. Just kidding. Brenna and Tanner started out as close friends. Although Brenna found Tanner to be a little bit overconfident and Tanner found Brenna to be a little bit in-a-relationship, they bonded over Friday nights at the Library Bar in downtown Laramie, WY. (Tanner would never be caught dead at the law library on a Friday). Over the next year and a half, Tanner and Brenna built a strong friendship based on their similar sense of humor and shared law-school trauma. But halfway through law school, Tanner found Brenna was no longer “a little bit in-a-relationship,” and started his pursuit. Although Brenna insisted that she only saw Tanner as a friend, somehow Tanner was always the first person that Brenna invited anytime she was making plans. They could usually be found taking green tea shots at the Library or hiking around the state parks near Laramie. They did almost everything together, from Tiger King binge sessions during COVID to river floats down in Colorado. Whenever they were together, they were always laughing. Brenna still remembers the night that Tanner and some friends invited her over for their “jam session,” and Brenna heard Tanner sing a cover of Ed Sheeran while playing his guitar--it was much more impressive than the stereotypical Wonderwall cover. A few months later, Tanner and Brenna took a trip with friends to Las Vegas, where Tanner remembers Brenna laying her head on his shoulder after a long night and knowing that this is the girl that he wanted to marry. Even though Brenna and Tanner never dated during law school, Tanner somehow ended up frequently cooking meals for her--“just as friends,” he promised. We both know now that this was a lie. On the night of law school graduation, Brenna looked over at Tanner in the Library bar (again), watching him joke around with all her friends and family, and realized she was really going to miss him when he moved back to Arizona. The next day when Tanner was driving fifteen hours back to Phoenix, they talked on the phone for almost the entire trip. They started dating three months later. Conveniently, Brenna waited to date Tanner until he lived a plane ride away, so they spent over two years dating long distance between Arizona and Wyoming. Even though it wasn’t ideal, they had a lot of fun exploring two different states and it taught them to really appreciate the little time they did spend together. Favorite memories from their long-distance stage include making a charcuterie board that could feed 30 people for just the two of them and a beach trip to Florida where they stayed in a renovated 1950 Airstream camper. They also used this time to do lots of strenuous hikes, including the tallest peak in Colorado. Finally, in December 2023, Brenna moved to Phoenix, where they now work only four blocks away from each other. They still enjoy strenuous hikes, trying new restaurants, and Netflix binge sessions, although they haven’t attempted to make another supersize charcuterie board (yet). In May 2024, Brenna thought she was on a trip with her siblings visiting their grandma, but when they pulled up to the beach to “take family pictures,” Tanner was standing there in a suit with a ring box in hand. Brenna was, of course, thrilled, and you can figure out the rest. Brenna and Tanner can’t wait to welcome their guests to the place where it all started when they get married this summer in Laramie, Wyoming.