We're so excited to celebrate with you!

The origins of when we met are a little unclear, but we think it was at a mutual friend’s birthday party in 2013 (thanks, Lauren & Zach!). Christian remembers thinking his first impression of Ashley that night was that she was cute and filed that away for a short period of time (4 years). Ashley most likely was too focused on margaritas, Tacolicious and fur coats to pay much attention to Christian. Over the years, they hung out with groups of friends and spent a lot of time at the same places doing different things. There were lots of watch parties for 49ers and Warriors playoff games where Christian yelled things at the TV intently watching the sports and Ashley also yelled things at the TV like “yay sports”, while never once paying attention to the sports (she still doesn't pay attention). Lots of house parties, bar visits, wine country trips ensued existing in each others spheres until sometime in 2017 they started texting and finally Christian asked Ashley to meet him out one night for a drink. Shortly after, they attended their friends wedding and had a follow up date the next week and from there, the rest was history.

As many of you know, Ashley does not handle impending surprises overly well. She frequently cannot stop from telling friends and family what she got them for birthdays or holidays months before those events occur. She’s equally as bad at receiving these gifts and in this instance waiting to be proposed to. Added to the fact that the ring was made by a friend (thanks Dana B) that Ashley had a hand in designing, proposing to Ashley during the pandemic was quite the challenge. Any thoughts of romantic trips or weekend getaways were immediately met with, “is that when you’re going to propose to me”? To combat the disadvantage he was put at, Christian told a white lie that he couldn’t propose to her any time soon because the ring was still being made. A trip to Carmel Valley was planned in March for Ashley’s birthday and also to hopefully to help hide the surprise that the proposal was coming sooner (and Ashley definitely thought it would happen then). Knowing he wouldn’t be able to surprise her with any elaborate proposal, Christian decided to go the quieter, sentimental route. On one of their first dates, Christian cooked dinner for Ashley, making jambalaya and so he decided that he would cook the same dinner the night of the proposal. After discussing with Ashley’s parents and having Caddie help with the surprise, Christian asked Ashley when she would be home from work (under the guise that he wanted to start cooking that’s night dinner (he told her they were having salmon)when she was leaving). When Ashley got home, Christian was on one knee and Caddie was on 4 paws and Christian started to propose and Ashley might have heard a few of the words. At some point she said yes and we had our jambalaya dinner, some champagne and called some family and friends. Knowing Ashley had the next day off of work, Christian secretly planned a quick trip to Sonoma where they were able to enjoy one of their first pandemic dinners out and night in a hotel together engaged.