Welcome to our Wedding in a Barrel!

It started with a dating app. Alex and Dani matched up and bantered a little about Star Wars and improv comedy. But when both of their planned dates cancelled one weekend, they made plans to meet up. Dani suggested an afternoon cocktail at Idle Hour after seeing photos of the barrel bar online. They both arrived apprehensive, but optimistic. But when they met, it just clicked. Over several rounds of Old Fashioneds and Gin and Tonics, they talked about everything from politics to puppetry. They debated movies. They invented IKEA furniture in Dani's sketchbook. At some point, they even walked to dinner and wound up at a vintage clothing store. Before they knew it, a "quick drink" had lasted nine hours. What started as a reluctant dating app outing turned into the last first date of their lives.

Dani already had a solo trip to New York City on the books for Valentine's Day weekend when the two of them first met, the ideal distraction from that annual reminder of single-ness. However, both being similar amounts extra and drunk on optimism, they decided to turn that solo trip into a duo trip. Just 3 weeks after meeting, Dani and Alex took a red-eye out to NYC. Too soon, you say? Could've been. Traveling together is its own unique trial of temperaments and quirks. Also, what if one or both of them robbed and murdered the other? Fortunately, they didn't, as evidenced by this wedding website. Instead, they took in "Moulin Rouge" and "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I and II" on Broadway, and experienced the immersive and provocative "Sleep No More." Together with one of Dani's dear friends, they took in a magically boozy potions cocktail experience in a quaint pub. The trip served as early confirmation that they were compatible on many levels. Things were going awfully well for them, so surely nothing would go wrong. Not on an interpersonal level, and certainly not a globally pandemic level. (Hint: it's February 2020).

It was mid-March. Dani and Alex had celebrated her birthday with some laser tag and drinkies, and they had just traveled to Lake Arrowhead with friends. The news was abuzz with this "coronavirus" thing, but things were mostly business-as-usual. They chuckled together about how folks were panic-buying toilet paper, and mused about the forthcoming steep discounts in vacation cruises. And then, you know, COVID-19 happened. The City of Los Angeles instructed its residents to shelter in place as part of its "Safer at Home" orders. At this point, it sounded very much like driving back and forth between their respective apartments was going to be extra burdensome, and possibly against the law. In retrospect, that might have been a little melodramatic of an interpretation, but that didn't stop Alex from moving into Dani's tiny 300-square-foot studio apartment, so that they could cohabitate rather than have to drive between their apartments. They installed a desk and a background curtain for his virtual meetings. They redecorated the patio into a tropical getaway for her virtual meetings. And over the next year, they basically never left. They got to be coworkers, co-crafters, and co-movie critics. Until they both had vaccines in-arm in May 2021, Dani and Alex hunkered down in their single room in Glendale. How did they do it? They don't know. They're still there! Maybe they're weirdos. Or, like, super codependent. Jury's out, but they love each other a whole lot, and now they're going to celebrate that love (oh, and maybe get a bigger place soon, hopefully).

Let's be honest. This couple knew early on they were in it for the long run. They'd been discussing marriage after just weeks of dating. So after over a year of sharing a very small apartment successfully, the two wandered into a safely socially-distanced Tiffany & Co. to browse engagement rings. After careful consideration, they selected an Australian yellow diamond set in yellow gold to pay tribute to Dani's fandoms like C-3PO from "Star Wars" and Hufflepuff House from "Harry Potter." Alex then kept the ring in his desk drawer for months, waiting for New Year's to roll around. On that night, they visited Idle Hour for an Old Fashioned and a Gin & Tonic in the place that started it all. Then they headed home, played some nerdy board games and ate some spicy curry. At midnight on New Year's Eve, they sat together and Alex put the ring on Dani's finger. It was official!